Hello Past, Meet Present
by OneWanderingMind
Summary: A remorseful Bo returns after emotionally abusing and abandoning those she held dear in a losing battle to her selfish and darker urges. Reflecting on both the joyful and painful memories of their past with Bo, Lauren and Kenzi are faced with the daunting task of choosing between the road of forgiveness or the alley of final rejection. *Update: Ch. 4 is the actual ending*
1. First Housecall

**I've been toying with the idea of "Dark Bo Returns" for awhile and decided on something on the shorter side. This will probably be three or four parts.**

**Rated M for strong language and possible mature content.**

* * *

As she approached the dark brown wooden door, Bo shook her arms and hands out to her sides as if the fluttering in her stomach and muddled thoughts in her brain would sling off her fingers. Her pounding heart in her rib cage began to crescendo into painfully loud timpani echoing in her ears. Swallowing did nothing to keep moisture in her mouth. While regulating her breathing, she muttered only four words on a loop, "What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?" She occasionally interjected "the fuck" when she felt her stomach leap into her throat.

Yesterday, this seemed the most obvious course of action, but right now, it had to be the most idiotic thing she'd ever done. Well, that's certainly not true. Stupidity coupled with cruelty got her here in the first place. However, being the bullheaded and passionate succubus that she was, she had to try. She could fix this. She _had_ to fix this. She wiped her sweaty palms on her black pants, smearing the salty fluid on the leather.

Still unable to knock on the door, Bo glanced around the unfamiliar hall. Lauren no longer lived in the apartment in the Light Fae compound nor in the crack shack. Apparently, the Ash felt comfortable allowing his charge to live outside of the compound, but not outside of Light Fae territory. Bo had sneaked into the apartment complex relying on the information of a Dark Fae informant. Lauren was of interest to all of the Fae, not just the side she worked for. The walls of the hall were painted a deep red with white paneling along the bottom of the wall. There were four apartments on each floor. Studying the door, Bo randomly wondered if the dark wood matched the rest of the hallway. She couldn't come to a conclusion, but the distraction allowed her to rally a bit of confidence as she raised her fist to the door.

Before her knuckles could rap against the wood, the door swung open as Lauren backed out with her head down and phone smashed between her ear and shoulder. Bo jumped back a few feet to avoid a collision. As the blonde slammed the door and rammed her key into the lock, she let out a disgruntled "Uh huh, uh huh" that always made Bo grin. Although she couldn't see her face, the brunette could picture the woman's features perfectly. With the adorable image in her mind, the cold, brutal reality of the situation smacked her in the face when Lauren whipped around as she blasted into the phone, "Yes, I'm aware Dyson. I need to run to the lab. Can you just hold—" Lauren nearly dropped the phone as the sight of Bo knocked the wind out of her. Her right hand held the phone to her ear while her left steadied her shaking body with the help of the wall.

"Hey," Bo said simply.

The doctor just stared. Although her gaze appeared to fall on the succubus' face, her blurred vision made it next to impossible to perceive anything other than a form she knew to be her ex-girlfriend. Losing her balance, she teetered forward and almost tumbled into the woman's arms. Jerking herself backward, she again snipped to the wolf on the other line, "I have to go to the lab." She shoved the phone into her pocket and forced herself not to show signs of anything other than simple confusion and anger.

Bo rocked back and forth uncomfortably. It was clear to Lauren that the succubus hadn't prepared a speech. Not that the blonde wanted to hear emotional drivel intertwined with no doubt a lengthy apology. While the doctor wished she could just push past the brunette, neither Bo nor her own desires would allow it. Wait. No. She didn't want to hear anything. She cleared her throat, glued her eyes to the floor and aimed herself toward the exit.

Bo blocked her path and offered an apology that didn't at all align with her obstruction to the blonde's escape. She said, "I'm sorry. I know you need to go."

Hearing Bo speak made Lauren's heart melt. The brunette's voice had many distinct features. Most of all, it was calming. Those few words convinced Lauren that Bo was back- the real Bo, her Bo. Shaking her head and setting her jaw, she locked eyes with the woman as she banned all pleasantly nostalgic thoughts from her brain. Bo wasn't hers and she sure as hell wasn't Bo's. "What are you doing here?" Lauren asked abruptly.

A smile tickled at the corner of the brunette's mouth. While Lauren was obviously less than excited to see her, the woman's voice brought her a bit of joy. It had been too long. Shit. She had royally fucked up. "I, uh, just got back in town and I—"

"How dare you?" the blonde accused with a voice filled with a rapidly growing fury.

"I..." Frazzled, Bo blurted quickly hoping to squeeze in a sentence before Lauren cut her off again. "I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but I want to start with an apology."

"No." Lauren stated resolutely. She stood stiffly upright with a creased brow and crossed arms. "You're not going to start anywhere at all."

"Please, I'm so sorry. I made a terrible mistake." Bo didn't care if a groveling session was in order. She needed Lauren to hear her out. This beautiful woman deserved more than an apology, but that's where she needed to start.

Lauren scoffed, "Really? Just _a_ mistake? Clearly, the final mistake was running off with that—"

Confused, Bo insisted, "I didn't run off with anyone!" Shit. Now wasn't the time to get defensive.

"Oh, excuse me. Instead of leaving me for someone else, you just left me. Despite your erratic and destructive behavior, I hoped we could work things out."

Still stuck on sorting out the 'running off' accusation, Bo asked, "You'd rather me have left you for someone else?"

Yup. She's still the same. Lauren rolled her eyes and said, "Are you kidding me? That's where you want this discussion to go? No." The blonde held up a hand signaling to Bo and herself that this conversation needed to come to a close. "It's not going anywhere at all. I need to go." Once again, Lauren strutted toward the exit.

Bo wanted to grab the retreating woman by the arm, but she had no right to touch her. Instead, she followed close at her heels and said, "Wait. Please, Lauren. I'm begging you to hear me out."

As Lauren swung around to face the brunette, she flung a question, "How long has it been Bo?"

Bo gulped. "Lauren…"

"No," the doctor held up a finger and spoke forcefully, "how long has it been? I want to hear you say it." She wanted to see if it hurt her to admit it. She needed to know if Bo cared and if her heart was ripped to shreds as much as hers had been.

"Thirteen years," Bo whispered only loud enough for her to hear. Just speaking those two words filled the succubus with pain. Knowing Lauren expected an audible response, the brunette couldn't even look up as she admitted, "It's been thirteen years."

With brown eyes locked on Bo's bowed head, the blonde concluded, "You are thirteen years too late, Bo."

The downtrodden, humbled brunette's heart flipped inside her chest at the sound of her name rolling off of Lauren's tongue. No matter how much time had passed or how much damage had been done, the way Lauren said her name hadn't changed. She glanced up to meet her ex's steely gaze and with firm intensity, she said, "I fucked up. I seriously fucked up. I let everyone in my life down. I stopped fighting this shitty nature I have. I gave into it and I broke everything." She took a small step forward. "I broke us."

Lauren stepped back. "Yes. You broke us."

Remembering her worst failure amongst the destruction she left behind, she requested, "I want to—"

"Don't say it." With a firm voice, Lauren cut her short. Bo's face and tone hinted at what she wanted to say. That was one thing that would never happen.

"I need to at least apologize… to everyone. Please let me—"

Lauren shook her head vigorously, "No. I'm stopping you right there."

"Lauren…" As the infuriated doctor resumed her movement toward the door, Bo rushed to the door frame and blocked it.

"Get out of my way," Lauren retained a calm, yet indignant demeanor and said, "If you have the smallest iota of respect for me, you will move."

Bo's heart and shoulders sank as she realized that nothing could change Lauren's mind. Her only hope is that her own persistence would bear fruit eventually. "Fine," Bo shifted to the side.

Lauren swung open the door and stood in the threshold and said, "Please go back to where you were. You're not welcome here. Ever."

The finality of those words frightened the succubus and she pleaded as the blonde ran out the door, "Lauren. You can't mean that!"

The doctor didn't look behind her as she sprinted to her Volvo. She didn't even bother to buckle her seat belt before starting the engine and peeling out of the parking lot. She didn't want to give Bo the opportunity to chase her down. She knew she'd try because it's who she was. Her left hand guided the belt across her chest and clicked the buckle. It locked her in just as she'd locked Bo out.

She sighed as she remembered October 17th 2015- the day her world fell apart.

"Bo you can't keep doing this." Lauren stood with her back up against the sink in the kitchen of the dilapidated clubhouse, as far away from her girlfriend as possible.

"What? Feeding? I've got to feed, Lauren. It's a succubus thing remember?" Her callous tone was magnified by her carefree stroll between the couch and the wall by the front door. During the entire exchange, she cast her gaze around the room, anywhere but on the blonde's face.

Lauren studied the woman's every movement and contemplated the past couple of months. Slowly, Bo had spiraled into a sex crazed... murderer. Her ties to humans rather than the Fae had been severed. To make matters worse, she aligned with the Dark who encouraged her deadly tendencies for seducing appealing humans. Of course, she still had to feed off of Fae. While she adhered to the no Dyson rule, her appetite for Tamsin could never be satiated. If it wasn't for the obvious lack of an emotional connection on both sides, Lauren might have put a stop to it. They were like toys to one another. That was all.

Up until a month ago, Lauren hardly noticed her girlfriend's slip into a darker frame of mind. Apparently, she reserved that for her lovers/meals. When her pledge to the Dark finally came to light, Bo felt no need to conceal her activities from Lauren. She'd stumble in at all hours of the night completely disheveled and often hungering for more. Despite her own desires, Bo never used her powers of persuasion on Lauren. She had a line. Although her version of love was twisted, she wouldn't allow herself to take advantage of the doctor.

Occasionally, Bo surprised Lauren at work with flowers and beautiful and genuine words of adoration and devotion. She was herself; she was the irresistible brunette the doctor fell in love with. The blonde clung to those moments like a life raft as the waters of their relationship grew choppy. As the days past, the raft deflated. She didn't know how much longer she could keep her head above water.

Two weeks ago, things changed drastically and in the worst possible way. Bo seemed to completely stop caring. She brought her succubus activities into their home. Perhaps she didn't mean to flaunt them, but she didn't take any measures to hide anything. She never killed, but Lauren walked into the crack shack more than once and was greeted by moans and screams of pleasure from their room upstairs. The first few times, she made the mistake of storming up the stairs and reprimanding her girlfriend for her complete disrespect for her. Bo never stopped; she just stared at Lauren with blue glowing eyes often with her hands still engaged as she muttered some insane justification for her action.

One time, Bo's guest turned out to be the blonde valkyrie who immediately jumped up and covered herself in embarrassment. Trying to maintain her couldn't-care-less attitude, Tamsin cleared her throat, awkwardly threw out an apology and insisted Bo claimed they had a few hours. Although a thorn in everyone's side, Tamsin had eventually gelled into the sunshine gang as the blunt asshole who occasionally offered assistance and amusement. She never mentioned her and Bo's extracurricular activities. Her shred of respect for the doctor suppressed her impulse to admit it and Lauren appreciated that.

With Bo's nature brought to life in the form of human kills and careless feedings, Lauren slowly watched her girlfriend's commitment slip away. Her entire demeanor had changed. While she's always been stubborn and confident, these positive traits disintegrated and were subverted by entitlement and cruelty. She'd developed her powers to persuade without touch. From across a room, she could manipulate and seduce whomever she pleased.

"Babe... Babe... Babe?" Bo repeated as Lauren mulled over the proper course of action. "Feeding? Succubus thing? You were complaining about it."

Determined not to sound defeated, Lauren forced, "I'm quite aware of your biological needs as a succubus. I've come to terms with that and haven't interfered, but things have changed."

Finally looking at her girlfriend, Bo nonchalantly inquired, "What's changed? You mean because of—"

"You've brought it into our home! You agreed to leave that side of you at the door."

"It's not a side of me, Lauren. It's who I am." Bo slinked toward her girlfriend as she continued, "C'mon. You know I don't care about them. Hell, I throw them out no matter what time it is."

"Or kill them." Lauren blurted. "You kill humans."

Propping her elbows on the island, she settled her chin in her palms and shrugged, "Not when I'm here I don't. Plus, the Morrigan always cleans up that shit for me." She chuckled insensitively, "I guess I really do throw them out. Ya know, like garbage."

Lauren grimaced, but refused to derail the conversation with pointless criticism of Bo's distasteful humor. "Whether or not you kill them in our home is so far from the point and you know it." As much as Lauren wanted to back even further away from the woman, she forced herself to stand her ground. She wasn't backing down this time.

"What is the point? The fact that I'm not a super lover of humans anymore? I'm Fae, Lauren. Can't help it."

"Since when did being a different species give you the right to kill off another?"

With a face set with indifference, Bo replied, "Geez. You make it sound like I have a vendetta against your kind. I really don't kill that many." She snatched up an apple and dug her teeth in before concluding, "You're blowing this way out of proportion."

"You're unbelievable. How can I possibly blow _murder_ out of proportion?" The blonde threw up her hands and urged, "Please, put that into perspective for me. All I know is that by human standards, it's illegal and almost universally considered immoral."

"Well, I'm not human and I'll just sidestep the 'immoral' comment."

"Where did you find this 'better than humans' attitude? You do realize that you're dating a human?"

Coldly, Bo smirked, "No way! Wow. I totally missed that for two-ish years."

Completely at a loss, Lauren yelled, "Who are you?!"

Straightening up, Bo dragged a finger along the metal surface as she circled the island with her eyes locked on her girlfriend. With a tone of honesty laced with vicious manipulation, she whispered, "I'm the woman you love, just better than I used to be." She reached out a hand and grazed it against Lauren's shoulder.

The blonde pulled away and retreated, putting the island between them once again. "This isn't you."

"Guess you don't know me at all."

"I know _you_, but I don't know _this_."

Bo bit into the apple once again and suggested flippantly, "Maybe you just don't like who I am."

Gesturing up and down, Lauren replied, "No, I don't like whatever _this_ is."

Bo flinched at the words. She asked, "You don't like all the sex I have. Is that it?"

Stammering, the blonde replied, "Yes. I mean. It's the way you go about it. It also seems a bit... excessive."

The doctor tripped right into the trap Bo set for her. Actually satisfied with her girlfriend's response, Bo said with a bite of fruit in her mouth, "Maybe I wouldn't have to if you actually fucked me once in a while."

"What?" Lauren couldn't decipher which emotion she was feeling: anger, surprise or devastation. It was a twisted ball of painful disbelief and bubbling rage. Through clenched teeth, her voice shook, "Are you blaming me for your belligerent behavior?"

Shrugging, Bo said, "I'm just saying, I'm a succubus and I need sex. I'm not getting any from you."

"Don't you think that's a sign of a deeper relationship issue? Not just that we don't sleep together?" Lauren clung to the hope that she might actually be able to get through to her girlfriend.

"I mean, I thought it could be because of—"

"Stop! It's because you stopped treating me like an equal. My humanity has never been a problem until recently."

"Lauren," Bo slipped into the familiar yet now rarely used tone and gently said, "It's not a problem." The blonde felt a flutter in her stomach as her girlfriend smiled that smile that made her melt every time. "I know you can't help what you are."

Lauren's heart dropped. Her smile disappeared. Her resolve strengthened. "You need to go."

"I need to what?" Bo tossed the half-eaten apple into the sink.

"Please. You need to think about whether you want this or not."

"What the hell did I say?" Bo scoffed as if completely ignorant of the past few minutes.

"What didn't you say?" Lauren snapped. Determined not to start an argument, she repeated, "Just think about whether you want this or not."

"You mean whether you want this or not," Bo corrected. Before Lauren could reply, Bo held up a hand, "You know what. You're right. I'll think a bit and then come back tomorrow."

Surprised by the succubus' lack of resistance, Lauren nodded slowly, "Okay."

Bo threw on her leather jacket and walked to the door with her girlfriend only a few steps behind. After swinging open the door, the brunette spun around and asked, "So, what exactly are you expecting from this?"

"What is _this_?"

"Booting me out of the house," Bo rolled her eyes.

With a stern face, Lauren spelled it out as clearly as she could, "Consider what it would be like to lose me- to lose all of us. I can't take this anymore, Bo."

Tilting her head to the side, the succubus asked, "Is this some sort of ultimatum? I better be good or we're done? You know you can't cut ties with me that easy."

"Watch me," the words flew from Lauren's lips not as a threat, but as a promise.

Bo slinked closer to the blonde and purred, "I don't think you can live without me."

The possibility of her girlfriend's words being true frightened the human. Had she allowed Bo to completely consume her life? Would her entire world crumble beneath her feet if she and Bo called it off? That couldn't be true. Lauren wasn't weak or easily manipulated which is why all of this had to stop. Bo was merely playing on her insecurities. Before insisting one last time that Bo leave, Lauren's curiosity got the better of her and she queried, "Why do you keep me around? If you have no desire to love or respect me, why are we still together?"

"Because you're mine," a cold sneer spread across her lips as she declared her ownership of the blonde. Just like the Fae had long ago, Bo had staked a claim on her.

With that said, Lauren replied, "Leave. Get out." There was nothing else to be said.

Bo was pissed, but yelling at her girlfriend wasn't an option. For almost a split second, she worried for their future, but her indifferent attitude resurfaced as she responded, "Alrighty then. I'll figure out my shit." As she closed the door behind her, she added, "See you later, Babe."

The term of endearment stung. It was as if a stranger had invaded Bo's body and stolen every part that Lauren held dear. She didn't know what to do. She only knew that it couldn't go on like this.

And it didn't go on like that. That was the night that had ended everything. With a long sigh, the doctor squealed to a halt in the lab parking lot. She slung off her seat belt and flung her feet to the pavement. Whenever duty called, her personal life was put on hold. Considering the occurrences of the past half hour, perhaps that was for the best.

* * *

The downtrodden succubus stomped to her yellow Camaro. Her old car had fallen apart years ago, but with her Dark Fae benefits, she easily afforded a beautiful new convertible. She opted for an updated replacement of her beloved car with over a hundred thousand miles and hundreds of memories. She weakly kicked the tires and grumbled under her breath. Memories of her deplorable treatment of Lauren flashed before her eyes. "Fuck!" she screamed aloud. For the past few months, she had drowned herself in self-pity as she whipped herself raw with details of her possibly unforgivable behavior.

This shit had to stop. If she expected to make any headway in earning Lauren's forgiveness, she needed to remind herself of the good times. Instead of dwelling on their final talk thirteen years ago, she actually smiled as she sat down on the hood of her car and played back their first conversation.

Just as the Ash instructed, the strange blonde gripped her arm and walked her out of the Chamber of Not-So-Secret Crazy. Their close proximity allowed Bo to take in her scent. Wow. Uh oh. She felt an all too familiar lust flare within her. Shit_._

"Lauren," a voice boomed from behind them. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught sight of the bearded, curly haired man trotting toward them.

"Awesome. This guy," she mumbled sarcastically under her breath. She didn't know that the blonde heard her complaint and smiled at the words. The doctor had no great love for the stubborn man.

He handed Lauren a key and looked at Bo as he said, "If you think she won't run, I thought she might need to be unshackled for you to examine her."

Bo's eyes darted back and forth between the two and noticed a small amount of hostility as her female captor stated flatly, "Thank you, Dyson." She took the key without another word. When Dyson was out of sight, she stepped behind the brunette and said, "I'm trusting you not to attempt to escape."

As the cuffs fell from her wrists, Bo replied, "I can't make any promises, but I'll stay put for now." She turned to face the blonde and visually swept the woman from head to toe then back up to her face. Damn that gorgeous face. "I'm intrigued."

The blonde blushed as they continued their now leisurely trek. Clearly embarrassed, she asked hesitantly, "What do you find so intriguing?"

Instead of answering, Bo brushed a hand against the woman's coat sleeve and observed, "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this lab coat isn't a part of any ongoing role-play." Although Bo regularly hit on strangers, she rarely sought to discover what was beneath the surface or think beyond sex. For some inexplicable reason, this blonde stranger coaxed a genuine desire to know and understand rather than just fuck. Unfortunately, her suggestive words hinted at the latter.

"That is an accurate assumption," the cloaked woman replied.

"I mean, usually it's a nurse, but I know I wouldn't turn down a doctor." Lauren cleared her throat in discomfort. Because Bo hadn't made physical contact, the blonde's true response replaced the typical compliance and horny interest to which Bo was accustomed. "Wow!" Bo reprimanded herself, "Sorry I just kinda…"

As automatic double doors slid open upon their approach, Lauren assured, "I understand." Turning toward the apologetic brunette, she said, "I have a feeling that these actions and impulses originate from a biological imperative present within your species."

Bo's eyes trailed from the blonde's eyes down the silver chain that disappeared beneath a blue top. She unconsciously licked her lips and purred, "Mmmm. I feel doctor speak coming on."

The doctor bit her lip and dropped her head briefly before responding, "After I examine you, I'll have a better idea of what you are."

"_What_ I am?" The word started the brunette.

"Oh!" It was Lauren's turn to apologize. Wringing her hands, she offered, "I did not mean that in a derogatory way."

Bo squeezed Lauren's hands between her own in an attempt to reassure her and smiled, "Don't worry about it."

The doctor slid her hands free and asked while trying to conceal her curiosity, "Can you please strip?"

The brunette grinned, "So this is role-play."

"An examination," Lauren corrected with a smirk.

"Uh huh," Bo teased as she pulled off her leather jacket. "Well, just keep the needles at a distance and we're all good."

Remembering the coy look Lauren had given her in response, Bo slid off the hood of her car as she laughed. With a renewed vigor and purpose, she reminded herself that what she just thought about was exactly why she was here. She wasn't going to let Lauren go easily. As she started up her Camaro, she gulped realizing her next visit she actually dreaded more than she had Lauren. She had to talk to Kenzi.

* * *

Completely engaged in examining the organism on the slide, Lauren's phone vibrating in her pocket started her. Without pulling her eyes away from the two lenses, she pressed the phone to her ear. "Lauren Lewis."

"Lauren. Where are you?" a gruff and obnoxiously demanding voice bellowed in her ear.

"This is the third time that you've called, Dyson. As I said the past two times, I will be at the precinct as soon as possible." The pushiness of the detective grated on the doctor's nerves. "You know how to handle the situation without my immediate intervention."

"It's not my job, Lauren," Dyson insisted. His annoyance traveled through the radio waves loud and clear.

"Not that I owe you any type of explanation, but this is of high importance to the Ash. I need to complete my notes so the medical board can make an informed decision about this virus this afternoon."

"Fine," Dyson sighed as his tone softened. "It's just difficult to keep this private. It happens so frequently and people can't help but notice. _Cops_ can't help but notice." Lauren straightened up and bit her bottom lip in frustration and contemplation. She was at the end of her rope. Bo's sudden appearance wasn't helping the situation. This was all too much. "Do you understand, Lauren? I'm trying to help."

"I know. I know." Lauren admitted reluctantly. "I appreciate it." She paused. She needed to tell someone. Her ex showing up out of nowhere ate at her every thought. "Dyson, something's happened."

"What?" He sounded worried.

"It's completely unexpected and very..." she searched her vocabulary for an appropriate word and landed on something simple, "painful."

"Lauren. What's wrong?"

"She—" the doctor stopped. Dyson wasn't her confidant; he was just someone who cared. Smiling to convey a lighter tone through the phone, she continued, "Nevermind. I'm just stressed. I'll be there soon." She hung up immediately. She didn't want to give the wolf any chance to push the subject.

She slammed her phone on the table, upsetting a petri dish which toppled to the floor. Not even bothering to pick it up, she groaned and stalked over to the triple-doored laboratory refrigerator to retrieve an identical sample. Her insistence on backups came in handy. Accidents of the klutziness variety happened especially when a mind was clouded by the return of an ex. Something like this had happened before except it was Lauren who had initially fled.

After the Taft debacle, Lauren had no choice but to run for her life. While she was unaware of the unrest within the Fae community and the declaration of war against humans, the doctor was convinced that no one would believe her ignorance when it came to Taft's true intentions. When she freed Dyson following the surgery, she told him the truth about her work and her innocence in his kidnapping. As usual, Dyson responded in an indiscernible manner, urged her to run, and took off. No doubt he saved Bo in some way or another. He always had to be the hero.

Fortunately, Lauren didn't sever all of her ties with her past life when the Ash claimed her. She had kept in touch with her old biochemistry professor from Yale. She and Dr. Mark Russell often discussed some of his published research associated with his current position as a professor at the University of Manchester in the molecular neuroscience post-graduate program. After stealing enough money from Taft's compound for an international plane ticket, she flew directly to Manchester. Fortunately, the Fae hadn't considered it unnecessary to flag her passport, so she had no problem passing through customs when she landed in England. From the airport, she caught a cab directly to the university campus. Since she had wisely looked up where Dr. Russell's office was located, the cabbie dropped her off right outside the Simon Building. With only a small suitcase, she didn't appear to be a run-away as she meandered the halls until she found an office with a silver nameplate on the door engraved with the name Dr. Mark Russell.

She had absolutely no idea what time it was except for the fact that that it wasn't during the professor's office hours. Thankful for a short bench a few yards down the hall, she shuffled toward it and sank down onto the metal slats. In less than 16 hours, she'd traveled from a Canadian airport to a British university. Overwhelming exhaustion preceded the impending jetlag. She didn't know how much time passed before her former professor greeted her with a squeeze on the shoulder. The details of the rest of the day were a bit of a haze, but she ended up at a hotel and slept for what seemed like days.

Dr. Russell immediately hired her as his research assistant. He daily badgered her about the actual reason she condescended to work as an assistant when she was more than capable of spearheading her own research. After many weeks of the same questions, he finally accepted her answer of the job being temporary while she lined up something permanent. For four months, she worked at the college and in her spare time, she indulged in research of her own. Some days, she actually forgot about the Fae but every night before she drifted off to sleep the cold emptiness beside her brought Bo to mind. How could she ever get over her? Their relationship had been far from perfect, but Lauren never imagined that the break would morph into a break up.

One night as she flipped through papers and scrolled through PDFs and images trying to organize her findings from that day, she heard three large pounds on her hotel room door. After shoving a bite of brown rice into her mouth, she walked to the door and opened it slowly. She almost choked when she saw Bo standing before her.

"Oh my god!" Bo's entire body sighed in relief, "I've knocked on at least twenty doors."

"Bo, what are you doing here?" Lauren's heart thumped in her chest and her mouth went dry. She was here. Bo had found her. In that moment, everything was perfect. However, the moment passed as moments always do and the blonde's joy was engulfed by an overpowering uncertainty. If Bo hadn't changed, nothing could be as it was.

"I came to find you." Bo smiled and her eyes twinkled. "I came to say this break has been long enough. I love you." The last sentence tumbled from her lips like a simple habit, but she meant it.

Bo's confession of love made the blonde's skin tingle. Before Lauren interjected with her own misgivings, she studied the brunette's appearance and queried, "Why are you covered in cat hair?" She caught a distinct scent and continued, "And why do you reek of wine?" She also noticed that the top of Bo's black top was soaked.

Bo groaned, "This is what happens when you knock on a shit ton of doors in a hotel." The other woman smirked as she listened to Bo's tale of misfortune. "Some lady was extremely pissed about my interruption of her drunken moping. I guess throwing a glass of wine in my face seemed like an awesome idea. She mumbled something about a cheating whore and then slammed the door." Bo shook her head in slight frustration while the doctor grinned and chuckled. "Then," the succubus resumed, "a cat escaped and I had to chase it down. Mr. Assface Puss was not too happy and as you can see by my shirt, he is very hairy."

"I didn't know cats were allowed in this hotel," Lauren commented as Bo tried in vain to pluck some of the brown cat hair out of her shirt.

Bo snorted, "Someone should tell that to the old, crotchety man downstairs and his declawed cat."

The familiarity of the exchange put Lauren at ease, but she still wouldn't allow herself to hope for a happy ending. It was nearly impossible to resist Bo's look of sheer adoration. Lauren cleared her throat and said, "Look. Bo—"

"No," the brunette cut her short with a voice filled with determination. "Before you say anything, there's a lot I need to tell you." She took a deep breath and glanced up the ceiling hoping some higher power might grant her strength. The blonde knew she was about to apologize, but sometimes a simple 'sorry' isn't enough to fix a broken relationship.

As Bo's eyes dropped to hers, Lauren managed a comforting smile as the succubus began rather bluntly, "You know I suck at apologies. God, all I do is apologize. I've had a lot of time to think about the huge pile of stupid things I've done. First off," she stressed with a single finger in the air, "I came as quickly as I possibly could. I was in Wackoland for what turned out to be a few months." Lauren's raised eyebrow prompted a quick response, "I'll explain that later. When I got back, Kenzi did or had someone else do some fairly illegal computer something to track you down. I had the hotel name, but there's actually no Lauren Lewis booked here. Or that's what the dude at the reception desk said."

The doctor opened her mouth to explain, but Bo spoke first. "I remembered that you said your name wasn't Lauren so I've knocked on every door on the first and second floor."

Giving Bo a second to breathe, the blonde joked, "And all of that happened." She pointed to the woman's wet and hairy top.

"Exactly. So here I am."

"Here you are." Lauren's soft voice dripped with an affection that hadn't wavered.

"Alright, now for the fun part…" The blonde held her breath as Bo plunged into a disjointed but heartfelt confession, "I am so, so sorry for making you feel like you aren't enough for me. It's ridiculous because I clearly wasn't enough for you. Like an idiot, I missed your award science thingie. Like an even bigger idiot, I didn't even wait around for you to get home. That award was proof of how awesomely smart you are." The brunette's gaze jumped down to Lauren's folded hands. The doctor knew that look and part of her needed to feel Bo's reassuring touch. Not yet. She still didn't know where this was going.

Changing her mind about taking Lauren's hands, Bo looked back up and continued, "I should have told you every day how smart you are. I always called you sexy and beautiful, which you are, but I sometimes forgot to tell you how amazing your mind is." Just by the way the brunette spoke, Lauren could discern a realization and genuine appreciation of her intelligence. In truth, she had felt that Bo neglected that side of her and hearing her admit it meant the world to her.

"Also…" Bo cleared her throat uncomfortably, "I should have told you about that kiss with Tamsin." With wide eyes, Bo stressed, "I seriously don't know what the fuck that was and Tamsin is an asshole for throwing it in your face." Lauren stiffened as Bo continued, "She admitted she was just trying to fuck things up for me. Then she said it was super weird and no way it would happen again. After slapping her, I agreed." Bo paused and added with a raised eyebrow, "Then she shook my hand. She really doesn't have good people skills. So yeah, Tamsin is awkward as hell."

Bo returned to her lengthy apology, "I'm sorry for blowing you off when you clearly wanted to talk. I think you said we were 'out of sync', which is totally true considering all the bullshit I've been rambling about. I acted like everything was just going to be okay. I thought I could float through life without actually trying and fighting for us." Bo shrugged with a soft expression, "I thought I could just love you and everything would work and you'd always be around."

"I was around, Bo, you just didn't see me," Lauren finally spoke. While the brunette's words touched and reassured her, she needed to emphasize what she saw as the problem all along. "Everything came before me."

"I know," the other woman quickly agreed.

"Do you?" Lauren asked hesitantly as she looked at Bo intently as if yanking the truth from within her.

"No, I mean yes." Bo sighed and shook her head, "I didn't notice _then_. I never set a specific order in my life. Making choices, setting priorities… never been my thing."

"Some decisions need to be made if you want us to work. I can't commit to you and have you set me on a pedestal for weeks or maybe months and then lapse into what we were before."

Bo wanted to grab her hands, her face or anything to reassure her. Lauren could see it. The brunette's hands clenched and she stopped herself from taking a step forward as she said, "That won't happen. It can't happen. I won't lose you." She took a deep breath and tilted her head up to the ceiling as she fought back tears. The doctor had never seen Bo like this before. On the night Lauren decided on the break, she'd seen confusion, devastation and fear. This was different. Bo wasn't confused nor devastated, but terrified that her repentance had come too late. She knew what she'd done and she feared she might be beyond forgiveness or perceived to be completely untrustworthy.

"When I saw you with Taft," she paused, "You said you _loved _me." She stressed the word regrettably in the past tense. "I know you still loved me, but you weren't lying when you said Dyson was standing in your way. I've never been very clever, but I've had a lot of time to think about it. It hit me that I don't want to love you both.

"I don't know if it was ever about making a choice or just me being selfish. When Dyson had his love, he was always the same. He always went along with what I said and he'd throw himself in front of a puppy if he thought it could hurt me. I've always been something for him to protect—something fragile."

"But you're not, Bo. You're a leader. The problem arose when you allowed and often rewarded his unnecessary heroics."

"I know. I get that. You're different. You helped me and loved me quietly… with your science." Bo smiled, "You didn't smother or one up strengths you knew I had. You saw my weaknesses, things I couldn't do anything about and you fixed me. Without Dyson, I might have a few more cuts, bruises and close shaves with death. And all that would be gone after a feed." Bo's eyes twinkled as she concluded, "Without you, I'd be the thing I was afraid of when I first met you. I'd be a monster."

Lauren snatched Bo's hands and squeezed them. Although Bo wasn't quite finished, the blonde already knew that the break was over. Now it was time to recover and move on. The succubus lifted the doctor's warm hands to her lips and gently kissed the tops of each of them and whispered, "I don't care that your name isn't Lauren. You've helped me from the first day we met." She gazed into Lauren's brown eyes and murmured, "Thank you so much for everything that you've done for me. You are the most wonderful woman I will ever meet. I can't go one more freakin' day without telling you how much I love you." Tears began to well in Lauren's eyes. Just as one slid down her cheek, Bo brushed it away gently and pleaded, "Please let me fix us." She stared at Lauren's lips and muttered, "Please Lauren…"

As the doctor's name faded into the space between them, Lauren cupped Bo's face between her trembling hands and pulled her lips to her own. All of the anger and disappointment dissolved in that kiss as want and love enveloped them. The determination of their kiss echoed the dedication of both of them to mend their relationship with understanding, forgiveness and passion.

"I love you, Bo," Lauren breathed against the brunette's lips.

Parting their lips only long enough to speak, Bo asked, "Do you forgive me?"

Lauren planted one last hard kiss and leaned back to reply, "As long as you never go one day without telling me how much you love me. Oh, and how smart I am."

Bo's face lit up and a smile stretched from ear to ear as she promised, "You've got a deal, Doctor."

No longer blinded by the sheer need of Bo's kiss, Lauren noted as their lips met again, "She really did get you in the face didn't she?" she commented as she licked the wine off her own lips and her fingertips trailed across Bo's sticky cheekbones.

"Yeah…" Bo confirmed as she tried to ignore the alcoholic beverage coating her face.

"Pinot Grigio I believe," Lauren noted.

"Huh," Bo smirked and kissed her girlfriend again, "I was just thinking… white wine."

Lauren grinned as she pressed her lips to Bo's once again and basked in Pinot Grigio remnants and love.

_Crack_. "Dammit!" Lauren yelled. While lost in a beautiful recollection, she dropped the second petri dish. This time, she kicked the plastic dish across the room. She scolded herself for getting lost in the past. She returned once again to the fridge and thanked herself for backups of backups.


	2. No Good Horrible Very Bad Day

**I'm so thrilled at everyone's reception to this little story. You'll be glad to know that I'd already planned out answers to your questions. I knew the age thing would pop out immediately. No matter how short this will be, I hope to leave no gaping plot holes although some explanations will be brief. Keep questions coming.**

* * *

While sweaty palms accompanied Bo's visit to Lauren, an ocean of nausea plagued her as she stood outside the door of the crack shack. Given the danger she'd rained down on Kenzi by abandoning a claimed human, the succubus was slightly surprised that her friend-well, former friend-still lived in town. Since she hadn't left, it wasn't at all a shock that the woman never left the dilapidated building. Kenzi fought her way through life without a home before she met Bo. Although clearly a death trap, the two of them had built a life in this shack. Bo imagined that she stubbornly stayed in the house just to prove to herself that her jackass of a best friend couldn't ruin her life or decide where she lived.

Just as her feet begged to retreat, she banged on the door and swallowed her swelling stomach. When Bo didn't hear the clickity clack of the woman's shoes, she pounded on the wood three more times. A voice chirped, "Alright, alright. Keep your granny panties on." The brunette chuckled at the familiarity of the greeting. Still approaching the door, the woman continued, "You can't interrupt the beautification process and expect Speedy Gonzales to—"

The door swung open before she completed the sentence. Through the partially completed makeup, Bo saw the color drain from her face. The woman with eyeliner on only one eye stood speechless with her blue eyes piercing Bo's brown ones.

"Kenzi. Hey." Bo kicked herself for that lame ass greeting. Why no profuse apology or psycho groveling? This woman's absence chipped away at her very soul each day they had been apart. Amidst her frantic search for words, Bo was temporarily distracted by the obvious lack of aging. While Lauren's beauty remained, her youth had clearly faded over the past thirteen years. Kenzi didn't seem to have aged a day.

"Leave," Kenzi barely parted her lips as she sneered.

Ready to plunge into any speech necessary to reclaim a minuscule piece of the stunned woman's heart, Bo whispered warmly, "Kenzi—"

"No. Go." Kenzi insisted. No amount of effort could mask the excruciating pain bleeding into her words.

Bo wished she could alleviate the pain she'd caused so many years ago. Instead, her presence merely opened up a can of worms the girl had long since bottled and stored away. Perhaps she was making a terrible mistake. It hurt her to think that Lauren and Kenzi might have been better off simply dismissing or accepting the last brutal months before Bo's seemingly conclusive abandonment. They had healed and now she crashed back into their lives with no warning and only apologies to offer. "I'm so, so sorry," the succubus breathed.

"Not fucking good enough. What the hell can I do with sorry? Huh?" Hearing the despised woman speak hardened Kenzi's features despite her shaky voice.

"I really want to make things right." The words sounded idiotic even to Bo, but she possessed no filter when it came to Kenzi. Anything that weighed on her heart spilled into Kenzi's lap.

Kenzi scoffed as she gripped the side of the door so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "Make things right? Wow." She finally ripped her gaze from the woman's eyes and glanced up at the ceiling. Tucking her tongue behind her front teeth and chuckling in furious amusement, she observed in the form of a question, "How did I not realize what a clueless idiot you are? It must have been all that succuslut charm."

Only able to repeat herself with fervor, Bo stressed, "I'm so, so sorry."

"Again- I can't do shit with that. Fae off!" Kenzi blurted as she swung the door to close it.

"Kenzi!" The brunette stopped the door with a firm hand. "I know that I was a shit head, the biggest of shit heads."

"Get the hell out of my house, Succubus!" Kenzi pushed her tiny body against the wood. Bo could only imagine the impressively hasty brick laying job occurring in her former friend's heart and mind.

"Kenzi, please." With a final body ram against the door, the petite woman slammed and locked the door. This didn't deter the banished succubus as she screamed, "I can't go on with you hating me and thinking I meant all of those horrible things that I said. I fucked up! I hurt you so much. We're like sisters and I—"

The door flew open and Kenzi seethed, "Well I'm thrilled to know that _all_ of my family sucks ass and screwed me over." Tiny tears pooled in her eyes as she murmured, "Leave."

Praying for a chink in the woman's armor, Bo said, "I'm so sorry I treated you like shit. I screwed up even before I left. I wasn't myself and I said terrible things. I let myself become a monster and I—"

Kenzi collapsed into the brunette's strong arms. She couldn't help herself. Time had raced by while Bo was gone and in her heart of hearts, she knew they'd see each other again, although she hadn't expected it to be so soon. No matter how strong she was when it came to survival, Bo was her Achilles heel. She clutched Bo's leather jacket and blubbered, "I hate you so much."

With one arm wrapped around Kenzi's back and hugging her close, her other hand caressed the back of the woman's head as she sighed and admitted, "I know. I know."

"You're seriously the worst ever." She couldn't help but add, "And I hate those boots."

A knee jerk smile slid onto Bo's face as she replied, "Yeah. I am, Kenz."

The nickname stabbed a newly opened and festering wound. Only Bo calls her that- the old Bo. This was merely a moment of vulnerability, not an invitation back into the life she'd built for herself without her. How dare Bo think everything could just go back to normal? She yanked herself from Bo's embrace and insisted, "I'm not _Kenz_. We're not okay. Things won't go back to the way they were!" The door slammed.

As Bo leaned her forehead against the wood, she half-assed, "Ken…" She knew that was all she could get right now. It had to be enough.

"Burn the boots!" Kenzi hollered. Sobbing her way back into the bathroom, Kenzi unsuccessfully tried to suppress the memory of the last time she and Bo had spoken more than ten years ago. According to Kenzi's calculations it was sometime in October of 2015, the day after she bought a new pair of laced up boots.

With one elbow propped on the bar supporting her chin with her open left hand, Kenzi sloshed beer around the inside of her mug. She wasn't enjoying one of her most favorite activities of all time. Although never seriously labeled an alcoholic, most joys in her life were often accompanied by some sort of smooth hoppy liquid or liquor that burned upon entry. Of course, she admitted that at times, typical difficulties of existing on the planet were often drowned for a few hours in her trusty liquid companion. Normal people had friends for support in shitty times. Unfortunately, her living and breathing friend proved a bit unstable and even toxic as of a couple of months ago.

Her Bobo's radical transformation into a murderous sexaholic pushed the Fae's bff closer and closer to the edge of social drinking and dangerously close to substance abuse. What made things worse was the fact that the succubus clearly didn't give a shit. After all these years, she abandoned her push for human equal rights as well as her own total independence. She was a fully-fledged Dark Fae complete with her personal valkyrie sex toy and fatal feedings. She even took orders from the Morrigan. Who knows what errands Evony ordered, but Bo was overly compliant. Kenzi was totally sure that there were sexual favors involved. Eww. Just no. Eww.

Although she and Dr. Hotpants had been on good terms for a few years, Bo's alarming attitude bound them together out of sheer survival. They hardly recognized the woman they both loved so fiercely. Her enticing smile had been swallowed up by a viciously seductive smirk. Even her tone of voice changed. A condescending purr replaced her once engaging gentle voice. The majority of the time, Kenzi feared that she had lost her Bolicious forever.

However, some days Bo acted like her old self. She and Kenzi did their Batman and Robin routine and the succubus showered her friend with devotion, sisterly quips and friendly shoulder punches.

As she took a swig of the beer, the girl reminded herself how those days were becoming few and far between just like her personal sober moments. "Fuck you!" Kenzi muttered as she slammed the mug against the wood. Some of the beer splattered and trickled down the top of her hand. As she licked the coveted beverage off her skin, she fumed inwardly as she contemplated the even bigger issue surrounding this entire clusterfuck of a situation. Things had changed a few months ago. Shit had gotten real. It's like Bo didn't even care that—

"If it isn't my bestest best friend," the voice of the aforementioned asshat interrupted Kenzi's thoughts. Struggling to thrust aside the tipsy haze, Kenzi strained to gauge the succubus' mood. Normal Bo or Bitchface Bo? Wait. Maybe Normal Bo was Bitchface Bo. She needed a new name for Not-A-Fucking-Asshole Bo. "How about a bestie drinking session?" Bo snatched Kenzi's mug off the bar as she plopped down on the stool next to her. Briefly glancing at the girl, the Fae smirked and asked, "You're not tanked already are you, Bestie?" Bo chuckled as she finished off the dark beer.

Kenzi grimaced as she realized that Bitchface Bo was in the house. Leaning away from the woman, Kenzi snapped, "Two things. One: stressing the term 'bestie' while being an asshole makes me want to vom. Two: don't say 'tanked'. It's a stupid word and Tamsin's the only one who gets a pass."

"Oh," Bo spun in the chair and noted. "Since when does Tamsin get special treatment from you?" She donned a serious face as she asked, "You're not sleeping with her too are you?" Although it was clear that the human wasn't amused, Bo jabbed her in the ribs and prodded, "Does she do that thing with her mouth where she—"

"Fucking stop!" Kenzi snapped as she smashed her hands over her ears. She pumped images of puppies and unicorns through her brain as she flushed everything Tamsin from her mind's eye.

"Oh c'mon," Bo continued when Kenzi's hands finally fell from her ears, "Don't tell me that you've never thought about it. I mean," the succubus licked her lips as a blue ring encircled her pupils, "shit, that would be hot."

Not in the mood to deal with her 'friend', Kenzi hopped down from the stool and exclaimed, "Well, this has been fun. Next time you wanna chat about valkyrie sex, try a mirror. Kenzi is closed for business."

"Kenz, don't be like that." Bo clenched her fingers around Kenzi's arm as she entreated, "Lo and I had a bit of a fight. I'm scared she's actually gonna break up with me."

"Bo this isn't breaking news," the girl wiggled out of Bo's grasp. "How long do you expect her to put up with your shit, especially now with—"

"Why is feeding all of a sudden an issue?" She banged a hand on the counter.

"Uh," Kenzi spoke with a voice dripping with astonishment at Bo's denial of her own selfishness and harmful behavior. "Killing isn't feeding. Also, fucking in your house is a dick move."

Rolling her eyes, the succubus returned, "If she has a problem with my faeness, she shouldn't have made me fall in love with her in the first place."

"She made _you_ fall for _her_? That's hilarious. Your version of love has fewer feels and more face sucking. Not to mention murder and not giving a shit."

"God you humans are so needy," Bo stretched over the bar and snagged a bottle of whiskey from the counter below. "I provide for us. I fucking work for the Morrigan." She unscrewed the lid and tossed it aside before taking a gulp. "Does she think I love doing shit for Evony? I do it for us."

Kenzi snorted. It amused her that Bo seriously expected anyone to buy the bullshit she spewed. Bo treated Lauren like a possession and Kenzi like a wall to talk to.

"What's so funny, bestie?" Bo snipped. She hated being mocked. No one alive had the power she did. Even she didn't fully recognize the depth of her untapped abilities. She needed training. Evony was in search of a proper teacher. The more correct term might be 'corrupter', but Bo had no idea of just how dangerous she could become. "I do give a shit," she stressed defiantly. "I've always cared. Why else would I be with a human? Does she think that just because of—"

"She's going by what she sees, Bobo." The endearing name slipped out. Fuck. This version of the succubus didn't deserve Kenzi's awesome nicknames. Coating her voice with disdain, the girl continued, "What is she supposed to think? You're fucking everything that moves and talking about humans as if we're gum on your high heeled boots."

"Then why do you stick around? Ha," Bo let out a half-hearted chuckle, "Get it? Stick around." Kenzi looked straight at her and only blinked. "Gum? Stick?"

"Yeah I caught it, genius. Your jokes are no-no go-gos."

Clearly intending to hurt her feelings, Bo snarled, "You think your obnoxious habit of shortening words and fucking ridiculous nicknames are funny? Or are they supposed to be cute? Grow up, Kenzi."

The words plunged through Kenzi rib cage and sliced her at the core. The non-assface Bo adored her quirky humor, word truncation and endearing names. This woman in no way resembled her friend. Gulping back a small whimper, the girl replied, "You know what? I've had it with your shit. I have my limits."

"Oh, Kenz," the succubus chided, "you couldn't last one day without my protection. I'm the only thing standing between you and the Fae."

"That's where you're wrong. This friend thing we had going on worked because we needed each other. Based on your new 'habits', you don't need me anymore. Dyson may be a brooding, over-reactive wolf, but he's right about one thing: I'm strong."

"That's hilarious," Bo stood up and took a stride in the girl's direction. "I'm sure your baby sword and lock picking skills will scare off flesh-eating Fae."

Unwilling to argue with the belligerent woman, Kenzi nodded and stated with an irritated expression, "That's my cue to leave. This talk is totes a waste of time. Plus," Kenzi stressed, "I told Lauren I'd help her with my favorite—"

"Shit!" The succubus smacked a palm on her forehead. She muttered, "What the hell am I going to do about her?"

Unable to pass up an opportunity to take a dig at Bo, the other woman smirked, "Take your own advice and grow up. Also a fashion tip from moi, there is such a thing as too much eyeliner." She couldn't help but smile at the brunette's heavy frown. "I've wanted to say that for soooo long."

"So back to my girlfriend," Bo thought aloud. She didn't really want Kenzi's input; she just really liked hearing herself talk.

Embracing her protective tendencies toward the doctor, Kenzi boldly suggested, "You could just leave and put all of us out of our misery. One less asshole sounds pretty fucking terrific."

Bo raised an eyebrow and tapped her chin thoughtfully and noted, "I get the feeling Lauren kinda wants me around, you not so much, Dyson-well I don't give a shit, and Tamsin just likes fucking me."

"That's about the size of it. Guess you don't need high school for stellar observation skills."

"And I guess you don't need family for a shitty attitude." The words coupled with Bo's harsh smile slashed at Kenzi's buried pain. When she ran away from home, she lost her family. It wasn't much of one, but it was still gone. The attack on the very thing the girl longed for the most drove the nail into the coffin of Kenzi's rotting hope of Bo returning to her former self.

The succubus sensed the girl's tortuous thoughts and took a swing at them once again. "You and I could never be sisters. I'm a succubus and you're a—" the brunette paused as she searched for the most demeaning words she could throw together. "A weak, thieving human with nothing to offer. You just take people's shit, drink and litter conversations with snarky nonsense." As Kenzi struggled to throw up a wall against Bo's vicious barbs, the other woman made one last comment, "God I've wanted to say that forever. You're just worthless."

"That's enough, Bo!" Dyson boomed as he stormed to Kenzi's side. He gripped Kenzi's shoulder, shielding her from her malicious attacker.

"Aww," Bo mocked and glanced at the other woman, "you have a dog to protect you."

Dyson gritted his teeth and barked, "She doesn't need protection but she doesn't have to stand here and listen to you."

"What happened to you?" Kenzi asked the brunette almost as a whisper.

Smirking, Bo's eyes flashed blue as she responded, "I got better."

Kenzi stomped up in the woman's face and ordered, "Well take your better self and fuck off. When the other Bo shows up, tell her thanks but no thanks. I don't want to see you again."

"Wow." Bo remarked, "I forgot that for a skinny bitch you have some balls."

Kenzi felt Dyson's thoughts swirling as he refused to release his verbal fury. She locked eyes with Bo and asked a simple question, "If you met me today on that elevator with that creep, what would you do?"

Not missing a beat, the succubus admitted, "I'd drain you both."

The disappointed and heartbroken human dropped her head and mumbled, "That's all I needed to know. You really are gone."

"Sooo," Bo leaned against the bar and rapped her fingers on the wood, "you're not talking to me anymore? Such a shame. Aren't you going to miss me?"

"Peace out, Bo."

"So long, chicka."

That was it. Those were their last words to each other. They still reverberated in her ears all these years later. Kenzi sank to her knees and leaned up against the tiled wall of the bathroom. As tears dripped down her face, she banged her head against the wall and groaned, "Fuck. This. Shit."

* * *

Turned away by the petite human, Bo retreated to her vehicle and plopped down in the black leather seat with a huff. Although she restrained any optimism when she drove into town yesterday evening, the reality seemed even bleaker than she anticipated. If Kenzi couldn't even contemplate forgiveness, reconciliation with Lauren would be pretty much impossible. Kenzi was the one who overlooked her mistakes over the years. Friends forgave until they were blue in the face, but lovers drew lines in the sand because they had to. As a friend and even as family, Bo had gone too far with Kenzi. Her last words were purposefully cruel and aimed at the girl's weaknesses.

Those final two months over ten years ago, Bo slowly picked apart Kenzi's heart strings and snapped them all one by one. She saw the girl's looks of anguish and remained unmoved. Now she was back trying her best to apologize. For the past few months, she banned the very notion of returning from her mind. She was well aware that both Lauren and Kenzi were thriving and content with their lives.

What finally changed her mind? An unreasonably strong pull toward both women gave her no rest. Even if they both ultimately chose to reject her, at least they'd know she condemned her past actions. They had to know how much she cared. After that, she accepted that they were free to do what they wished.

Bo dropped her head onto the leather wrapped steering wheel with a bang. Groaning and rolling her head to the side, she mumbled, "Fuck me." Without warning, a blast from the past overtook her as Kenzi's words echoed in her ear.

"Fuck you? No, fuck this!" Kenzi flung open the car door and yelled, "We're in bumfuck nowhere and you found the only damn sharp thing on the road." The girl stomped around the front of the car to the front left tire. Her boots viciously attacked the flattened rubber.

"If you mean not even an hour outside of town, then yes this is bumfuck nowhere," Bo commented as she stepped out of the car. Although just as irritated, she couldn't help but cross her arms and laugh at her friend's attack on the tire.

Now out of breath, Kenzi propped her hands on her hips as she panted, "What's so funny? I see zero things funny in this situation."

"You haven't seen a Goth chick kicking the shit out of a tire in stilettos."

"Laugh it up, Succubus," she clung to a disgruntled frown. "It won't be so funny in a couple of hours when the sun goes down and bobcats come out and eat our faces.

"Are there bobcats around here?" Bo wondered with her head tilted to the side as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Tonight there will be!" Kenzi declared while her friend snickered. She pointed at Bo and scolded, "This is why I keep telling you to put a spare tire and jack in the trunk."

Snorting, Bo replied, "When have you ever said 'jack' in relation to a car?"

The girl narrowed her eyes and puffed out her chest and replied, "Let's pretend I did for the sake of this conversation." She stepped up in Bo's face and cracked a smile as she said, "I told you this would happen."

Bo pushed the girl back playfully and responded, "You always that at the wrong times. Last week, we ran out of toilet paper and you said 'I told you so'."

Kenzi crossed her arms and threw her nose in the air and claimed defiantly, "I'm sure I've told you to get toilet paper at some point. So that's legit."

As the brunette shook her head at her friend's unwillingness to admit defeat, she pulled her phone out of her boot and made a phone call. After a simple explanation and relieved 'thank you', she hung up the phone and assured the pacing human, "Don't worry. Someone's on their way."

Nodding, the girl replied hesitantly, "Awesome sauce. I know it's going to be a tinsy bit awkward with you and the wolfman, but—"

"Why would I call Dyson?" Bo blurted. Since she returned from England with Lauren a few months ago, she and Dyson had been on civil terms, but nothing like it was before. Literally the day she got back, she stomped into the precinct, pulled Dyson aside and demanded that he never make any kind of pass at her. There were to be no longing glances, no flirty jokes and absolutely no mention of Lauren's humanity and thus temporary nature of their relationship.

"Uh. Who else would you call to help us fix a tire? Hale?"

Amused by Kenzi's poor guessing skills, Bo chuckled, "Why would I ask the Ash to help me with a flat tire?"

Completely bewildered, Kenzi drummed her fingers across the hood of the car as she brushed up against it while pacing back and forth. She asked, "Did you call Trick? I can't see him fixing a tire."

Bo merely answered in the negative, "I didn't call my grandfather, Kenzi."

"Wow!" Now Kenzi looked shocked, "I know Tamsin took a boot off her truck once, but you seriously—"

"Holy shit," the brunette finally stopped the woman. "Why would you name all of those people before Lauren?"

Kenzi halted as she slowly replied to a question she thought needed no explanation, "Ummmm. Look. I lurves me some Lauren and the kick ass food she cooks, but I can't see her jacking up a car and changing a tire."

"She'll surprise you," Bo smirked. She wondered how long it would take to uncover all the small tidbits about her girlfriend. Just the other day, she learned that Lauren could easily clear a vertically jammed bullet from a handgun with a single swipe atop the slide. She smiled as she acknowledged the certainty of having every single day of Lauren's life to discover all her hidden treasures.

The girl sighed and collapsed onto the hood as she conceded, "She did punch Vex in the face."

"And slapped Tamsin."

"And ninjaed cabbit DNA out of that chick and squirted it into Taft."

"I don't think you squirt DNA," Bo noted with a chuckle.

"I'm trying to admit that Lauren's pretty badass." Kenzi scooted her entire body onto the hood and sprawled out her arms and legs as if making a snow angel. "She physically assaulted a Mesmer and a valkyrie and awesomely duped a fucking cray cray dude. Props to the doc."

"I thought I'd have to wait until you were on your deathbed to hear you say that."

Kenzi turned her head and smiled, "I can still surprise the shit out of you." She flapped her arms as she groaned, "Dude, I wish I could pull a cabbit and zoom zoom away. I could get us help lickety split."

"Are you interested in the bagillion kids that you'd pop out?"

She shuddered at the thought, "Oh Christ on a bicycle. No fucking way." She sat up as she concluded, "Not a cabbit then."

Bo plopped down next to her friend and asked, "So my lovable human friend, if you could be Fae, what kind would you be?"

"You mean if I could shove my hand in a box and pick anything I wanted?" Kenzi returned with glee and wide eyes.

"I think you'd make an awesome Fury. Your bite would be as terrifying as your snarky barks," Bo suggested sarcastically.

"You think I should make people go loony, muttering nutcases?"

Bo nudged her on the arm, "Hey. Hale wouldn't be an ass to you ever again. Pretty sure he wants to keep his brain."

The human brushed her fingertips against her chin and said, "That is a true statement. The great and powerful Kenzi capable of melting the shit out of craniums! However, I'd kinda like to be a run of the mill shape shifter?"

A bit thrown off by Kenzi's suggestion at something ordinary, Bo said, "I'm a bit disappointed by your lack of creativity."

Kenzi tucked a boot under one leg as she turned to face her friend, "I could look like anyone I wanted. How cool would that be?" Her eyes lit up, "Think of all the shit I could steal—I mean—redistribute to my less fortunate self."

"Okay, your klepto inclinations aside, what would you like to be?"

Kenzi decided not to disagree with Bo's accusation, but insisted, "I for seriously think I'd like to be a shape shifter." She glanced at the brunette with a smile emoting a feeling Bo couldn't quite put her finger on. Kenzi hinted, "It's no fun being myself all the time."

Bo pulled the girl to her shoulder, "Oh Kenzi, I wouldn't want you to ever be anyone but yourself."

"Holy shit!" Bo's head snapped up off the steering wheel as she suddenly realized why Kenzi still looked so young even after thirteen years. Somehow, her human friend had managed to become Fae. She couldn't figure out why, but a part of her was sad. What if she had become someone completely different? Would _this_ Kenzi be able to forgive her? More importantly, what had driven Kenzi to relinquish her humanity?

"Bloody hell, how long are you going to sit there?" a voice from the backseat complained.

Bo whipped out her knife, but as she turned, her arm froze in midair and she groaned, "Vex, what the hell are you doing in my car?"

With his right hand raised, the Brit replied, "Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

Struggling against the man's invisible grip, she grunted, "I'll let you know when I find an old friend who isn't super pissed at me."

With a chuckle, the Mesmer released his grip and said, "Feeling sorry for ourselves are we? You better nut up because you deserve every little bit of whatever your lovely birds have in store for you."

"Are you going to lecture me about what I did? Really?" Bo's head snapped around to face the Fae now making himself comfortable in her backseat.

"Well darling, I've got to say that I've never killed a sizable amount of humans, shit on my girlfriend and bestie, and then shagged people basically out in the open." He smirked and leaned forward as he added, "And then ran away."

Although wanting to avoid oversharing, she conceded, "I didn't say I wasn't a complete dick. I just find it funny coming from you. Oh and why are you here?"

With a large wave of his hand in front of him, he answered, "Behold the Dark Fae welcome wagon. I've come to escort you to our beloved clan leader."

Bo scoffed, "You still take orders from Evony?"

"I volunteered actually. I didn't want to miss out on this memorable occasion although it's been quite the letdown."

"Sorry to disappoint," Bo threw out.

"I hoped the rumors of you going soft weren't true. This is so terribly boring."

Rolling her eyes, Bo replied, "Okay, now I'm not sorry."

Settling back into the leather seat, he sighed, "Well then, let's be on our way, shall we? Drive."

"I'm not up to being Evony's bitch right now. Give me a few days." Without her permission, her fingers flew to the ignition start button and then to the gear shift. As the car shifted into reverse and her foot pressed the gas pedal, she snapped, "Really? This shit?"

"Either you drive or I'll drive. Your choice," Vex snickered.

"Fine!" Bo conceded and she shifted the car into drive of her own accord. This was shaping up to be one shitty ass day. "Where to?"

* * *

Focused on her work, Lauren studied two large LED screens hanging on a wall in her lab. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two as she meticulously noted the numerous yet subtle differences between the slight variations of a virus as it affected a human cell and a Fae cell. Any new strain of the flu or other common virus came with a human remedy provided by scientist in the human world. Her position on the medical board was to find solutions to major health problems as they arose. Her days of treating patients had long since passed as the Fae finally rewarded her loyalty with freedom. With her skills and the Light's unlimited resources, she accepted the position of lead researcher on the medical board focusing on prevention and cures for illnesses in the Fae community.

Very few people knew that she no longer belonged to the Fae. The Ash offered complete security and generous compensation in return for her services and continued to perpetuate the belief of her subservience as a part of her protection. Despite her hatred of past Light Fae leaders, she recognized an appealing offer when she saw it. Answering to no one, she thrived both at work and at home. Everything came together over the years.

Lauren cringed when the thought of Bo crept into her thoughts. After all the damage she caused, how could she waltz back into her life? There was no place for her now. How could she possibly think that her appearance after all of these years would accomplish anything? From their very brief conversation, Lauren got the impression that to Bo, her sins were committed not too long ago. Thirteen years passed differently for the human and the Fae.

The doctor sank into her desk chair and synced her notes from her tablet onto her desktop. Her mind strayed to the past. This specific memory had been played over and over throughout the years. At the time, it seemed so trivial, but now more than ever, its details spoke volumes.

Just like today, Lauren had been engrossed in her work when Bo had strutted into the lab, "Hello gorgeous."

"Bo!" Lauren jumped out of her chair ready to embrace the woman and said with a smile on her face, "You're back." Her girlfriend had been gone for almost a week. She and Kenzi accepted a case too far away for a daily commute.

"Uh huh, I'm back just for you." With that, Bo grabbed the blonde by the waist and backed her into the nearest wall.

The doctor bit her lip as she surrendered to the brunette's desires and noted, "I'm guessing that you missed me."

Bo popped open the top two buttons of Lauren's shirt revealing her deliciously pale and inviting collarbone. As her lips, tongue and teeth attached the skin on the blonde's exposed neck, Bo shoved her hands up Lauren's shirt and her fingers dove underneath her bra. Lauren gasped and threw her open palms to her sides and slammed them against the wall. Entranced by Bo's tongue and warm, ragged breaths, she moaned and caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

As if the attention on her neck wasn't enough, Bo kneaded her breasts with an urgency that shot fire from the blonde's toes up to her cheeks. The brunette squeezed and raked her nails across her nipples and grunted with fervor, "Tell me you want me to taste you."

Lauren's pupils dilated with desire. Her fingers tangled in the demanding woman's brown hair. She yanked Bo's upward and her eyes snapped to the smiling lips as she replied, "Kiss me. Taste me."

The blonde's first request was denied as Bo grabbed Lauren's wrists and pinned them above her head.

She ordered with bright blue eyes, "No touching, Doctor."

A fleeting rush of disappointment tugged at the blonde's heart as her girlfriend dropped to her knees while simultaneously undoing the button of Lauren's jeans and forcing the denim and panties to her ankles. The succubus wasted no time and engulfed the woman's throbbing clit with her mouth. She licked and sucked with the desire of a dehydrated feral animal lapping up water. The warmth of Bo's timely exhales and sensations of her trained tongue threw Lauren into a frenzy.

Bo glanced up at her girlfriend and muttered, "Tell me you want me to fuck you."

Lauren's head dropped to meet the woman's eyes and was frightened by what she saw. Despite the blue ring of lust, Bo's eyes betrayed a terrible truth. There was no love behind her eyes. Lauren could feel it. The brunette felt nothing akin to the passion which they shared. Her penetrating stare beamed with the cold look of a random lover. She'd never seen Bo look at her like that before. The succubus was hungry and Lauren was the closest and most compliant warm body she could find. "Kiss me," the plea slipped out in the hope that her speculation was unfounded.

"I don't want to kiss you. I want to fuck you," Bo declared with a startling lack of feeling.

It was so startling, in fact, that Lauren replied, "I think you're hungry right now."

"Hungry for you."

"Hungry for anyone," Lauren corrected.

Bo sneered, "You don't want me? You're refusing _me_?"

"Honey," Lauren whispered calmly, "I think you need to feed."

"Yes." Bo licked her lips and murmured in agreement, "I need to feed."

Hoping to temper her girlfriend's lust, Lauren cupped her face and suggested, "Why don't you go do that?" She added with a teasing smile, "We can pick this up later."

She saw Bo squeeze her eyes shut as she batted away her hands. Her head twisted to the side. Alarmed, Lauren stood frozen as she witnessed Bo struggling against herself. She could almost hear the shouting going on in her head. She heard a gnashing of teeth and painful grunts. Finally, Bo inhaled, exhaled and slowly rose to her feet. Her eyelids fluttered open revealing the soft brown irises Lauren adored. She kissed Lauren's cheek and said, "I'm so sorry. I'll go take care of this."

The blonde smiled and replied, "You owe me."

Bo leaned back and smirked, "Oh, I'll be back. I was just getting started." Lauren chuckled as her girlfriend swiveled and retreated to the door. She threw over her shoulder, "I missed you."

"I missed you too…" Lauren didn't even complete her sentence before the doors swung closed and Bo disappeared. Immediately aware of her partial nakedness, she hiked up her underwear and jeans. Although Bo's strange behavior momentarily bothered her, she resumed her work and instead looked forward to her girlfriend's return.

Shutting her eyes as her senses yielded to the present, the doctor dropped her head to her desk. That had been the first warning of Bo's downfall. She had seen it and subsequently ignored it. She didn't fault herself for Bo's heinous actions and abandonment. The yoke of blame rested entirely on the brunette's shoulders. However, it had been hard to forgive herself for her inability to be proactive which resulted in getting blindsided. Regardless of her own inaction and Bo's shameful deeds, she still found herself staring at a terrifying decision that affected more than just herself. How the hell could she forgive?


	3. When Shit Gets Real

**Thank you so much for continuing to read, follow and comment. You guys are very astute! Some of you seem to be reading my mind. I typically reply to all the reviews, but I'm hoping the story will answer all of your questions. Rest assured, you will all hear from me once this is completed. Only one more chapter! Because this is rather short, I'm only including the lovely ladies of LG rather than trying to incorporate the men as well. The word "overwhelming" would be an understatement.**

** I noticed a few fellow fanfic writers commenting and following and I'm extremely flattered. Thank you guys for reading.**

* * *

Once Kenzi collected herself and finished putting on her face, she trudged down the stairs and snatched her cell phone off the island in the kitchen. Two button mashes later, she smashed the phone to her ear and prayed she didn't go to voicemail. With a sigh of relief after three rings, she blurted, "Bo's back."

After a long pause, she asked slowly, "Am I okay? Define okay? Is a complete fucking train wreck 'okay'?"

She stopped but quickly interrupted, "No, no. You don't need to come over."

She hopped onto the counter and responded, "I talked to her for like two seconds. I didn't let her in or anything. I'm not a complete idiot."

She couldn't help but chuckle at the response on the other end and said, "Yeah, I know what would have happened if you were here."

Her gaze dropped to her leggings as she fiddled with a loose thread and she sighed, "I don't really wanna get into it right now. I just needed to tell you."

Her features softened as she smiled, "Yeah. I know you do."

As she listened, her smile grew wider as she laughed, "Alright, alright. You don't have to go into exactly how you plan on kicking her ass. Plus..." she paused and then agreed, "Yeah. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll figure it out. You know my weird ability to work through my shit."

A few head nods, short sentences and exchanged goodbyes later, Kenzi set the phone beside her. As she swung her feet and spun the phone in circles, she threw back her head and released all of her frustration and confusion in a loud groan. As she tried to identify and organize her thoughts and feelings, one simple question ran through her hamster wheel of a mind: why now? In reality, many years had come and gone, but in her estimation not much time had passed at all. Bo was Fae. A long time to her might be more like fifty, a hundred, or shit maybe two hundred years. It baffled the woman to think that only thirteen years later, the crazed succubus returned with her tail between her legs.

In Kenzi's mind, the number of years, months and weeks didn't matter as much as the timing. Although neither she nor Lauren crumbled beneath the millstone of pain and confusion, it took them awhile to process and accept that the Bo they loved had attempted to trash their lives as she was gobbled up by a savage creature. Tentatively, they moved on and discovered contentment and happiness. Even Tamsin proved that she cared when she saved Lauren's ass a few years after Bo left. Of course, during the entire ordeal, she frequently emphasized her annoyance with humans.

As it turned out, Bo's disappearance actually concreted Kenzi and Lauren's friendship. When Bo descended into darkness, the Fae's best friend and girlfriend pulled together to keep from falling apart. When Bo abandoned them, they grieved and ultimately healed as a family. Kenzi slid off the counter and as her feet hit the ground, she determined that Bo wouldn't demolish the lives they slaved for years to build. She and Lauren were in charge. They would draw the lines and make the final decision.

Unconsciously, the woman began pacing around the island. What should she do? Over the years, she'd embraced a logical way of thinking that at appropriate times superseded her emotional explosions. Her demeanor hadn't wavered, but she now recognized the value of making decisions and moving forward rather than dancing around and confusing the issue. With that in mind, she mulled over the two possible choices she could make at this juncture. She could give Bo a chance or cut her out forever. If she gave the woman a chance, she could and _would_ simultaneously pitch fits and rip Bo a new asshole for what she had done. However, if she just wanted her to disappear in a cloud of smoke, there was no use in torturing herself by talking to her.

The succubus had smashed her heart with her cruel words and selfish actions. Could she forgive her? If the answer was no, fuck it. She could stay the course and refuse to revisit the past and dig up the bones of the W's: _Why_ did Bo leave? _When_ did her fall into darkness actually begin? _What_ made her change? For a year or so after Bo disappeared, Kenzi constantly pondered one thing in particular in regard to the "when" and "what". Still pacing, she let herself slip back in time and inspect a specific memory with a pair of fresh eyes hoping to glean splinters of truth that might form a skeleton for further conjecture.

Snuggled into the cushions of the couch, Kenzi flipped through a magazine while bobbing her head to the music thumping in her ears. The large headphones drowned out the noise around her. A smack to the back of the head interrupted her reverie. "Oww!" She yanked off the headphones and jerked around as an empty beer can bounced off of her forehand.

"Holy shit, Kenzi! Help me!" Bo screeched from the kitchen as she chucked cans in her friend's direction.

Hopping up from the sofa, Kenzi complained, "Jesus, woman! You don't have to abuse me with beer cans. Holy shit!" The girl almost fell on her face as she leapt over the arm of the couch and rushed to the frantic succubus' side when she saw orange flames shooting up out of a pan.

"What the hell do I do?" Bo waved a towel over the fire and not only fed the flames, but also caught the yellow towel on fire. "Shit!" she yelped as she threw the fabric on the ground and stomped on it with her thick boots.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Kenzi screamed as she flipped on the water in the sink and sloshed handfuls onto the floor. Within seconds, Bo ceased her attack on the blackened and drenched remains of their dish towel. Returning her attention to the slowly growing fire in the pan, Kenzi yelled, "Why the hell is there a fire?!"

"It was chicken!" Bo retorted. "It needs to go away!"

"Honey, the chicken is long gone," Kenzi replied as she rushed to the counter in search of something to smother the fire.

"The fucking fire needs to go away!"

"Well grab a lid or something!"

"Do we have lids for a frying pan?" Bo asked frantically.

"Thank the gods or goddess or whatever," Kenzi snatched up a box of baking soda and slung the powder into the direction of the pan. Although a portion of the contents landed on the counter around the pan, the flames subsided to a less frightening height.

"It's still there!" Bo observed as she stood by uselessly.

"I know! I fucking missed!" Glancing over at the island, she snatched up one of Bo's shirts abandoned on the counter. "This will do," she noted. She squeezed past the brunette and plunged the fabric under a stream of water from the sink nozzle.

Shaking her head vigorously, Bo said, "I don't think I'm going to like this solution..."

Kenzi wrung out the shirt as best she could and plopped it on top of the pan which instantly smothered the remaining flames. Breathing slowly to steady her heartbeat, the girl replied, "Well, this is what you get for starting a fucking grease fire."

"I was trying to cook for us," the woman insisted with her hands propped on her hips.

The goth lifted the ruined shirt off the stove and dropped it into the sink as she noted, "Looks like you should stick to punching and sucking and leaving the creation of yummies to your girlfriend. Did your mama never tell you how to put out a grease fire?"

"Well, I wasn't that great of a cook, so I never really went in the kitchen."

"That fact," Kenzi pointed to the black remnants of the two chicken breasts, "has been clearly demonstrated complete with visual aids. Who knew cooking chicken was so life threatening?"

Bo smacked the girl on the arm, "This from the girl who screams from splinters."

"Those fuckers hurt," Kenzi glared. With her eyes darting between the two pieces of chicken in the pan, the towel on the floor and Bo's shirt in the sink, the girl commented, "I think the grease fire has claimed four victims. So much carnage."

Pinching the wet cotton between her thumb and pointer finger, she lifted the shirt with a look of disgust and offhandedly muttered, "There seems to be a lot of that going around lately."

With the fire and ruined shirt immediately forgotten, Kenzi carefully replied, "Bo. You can't save everyone. We didn't know he had that girl with him. I'm also not quite sure why you burned down the whole building." The words barely seemed to register as the Fae's face fell. Since they had returned from their week long case, Bo had been acting super weird. The outcome of the case haunted her.

Almost two weeks ago, a terrified woman approached them. She claimed that outside of town, a Dark Fae named Casimir was living in what closely resembled a harem. According to the water nymph, the incubus set up shop and charmed a couple dozen women, both human and Fae, to do his bidding. She herself had been one of the compliant guests, but after she found bodies and noticed the dwindling number of women, she wisely turned tail and ran.

When she heard of the unaligned succubus and her investigation hobby, she immediately sought out Bo and Kenzi and enlisted their help. Without hesitation, the duo packed up and headed out. After a few days of gathering information from the locals, they stumbled upon an invite to a black tie gala hosted by none other than the incubus himself. Dolled up and armed, they worked their way through the crowd and easily spotted the charmed humans. Bo "politely convinced" a few Fae to spill a few dirty secrets. When they split up to investigate further, Kenzi was attacked and dragged away.

She sat in chains in a dank room for what she calculated to be a couple of days. Every few hours, the debonair incubus waltzed into the room and taunted her. He assured her that she would not be harmed if Bo turned herself over to him. Kenzi snapped every time, "You can't have her!"

He always shrugged and laughed, "Then I guess you're going to die in here."

Before Kenzi lost all hope, Bo burst into the room and threw herself at her friend with tears in her eyes. While unshackling her, the succubus ordered Kenzi to get all the women out of the house. Of course, Kenzi refused to leave her friend behind, but she finally caved after an impassioned and heroic speech coupled with a promise to never leave her.

Kenzi quickly rounded up the women and had to physically prod some of them out of the house. A half hour later, smoke and flames rose from the back of the house and began to engulf it as Bo sprinted outside and into her friend's arms. Bo muttered something about candles and that she'd locked him in the room where he had held Kenzi. By the time the fire department showed up, there wasn't much left of the mansion. Bo and Kenzi hung around to ensure that they found a dead body amongst the rubble. Both were shocked and Bo was devastated when they were told that two bodies were found. To her, the death of an innocent equated to failure.

No matter how often Kenzi comforted her, the words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Even now, with fingers enclosed around her ruined shirt, Bo bombarded herself with guilt. Having tried the nice approach, Kenzi finally asked bluntly, "Did something happen that you're not telling me?"

"What?" the cloth slipped from Bo's fingers as she whipped around to answer the question with a question, "Something I'm not telling you?"

"Yeah," Kenzi clearly struck a nerve. Terror rather than guilt swam in brown eyes and drained the color from her face. Hell bent on dragging out the truth, the girl prodded, "You're hiding something, Bo. We've fucked up before and gotten people killed, but you've never walked around wringing your hands and wailing like a crazy widow who doesn't change her clothes or shower."

Bo's eyes hardened, but her face softened. Clearly, the truth infuriated and frightened her but her friend's concern touched her. Choosing not to resist, she admitted somewhat hesitantly, "I knew there was another body."

Confused, Kenzi asked, "Do you have Superman eye sight or something?"

"No," Bo whispered. "She was dead when I ran out of the building."

"So the incubus killed her?"

"No," Bo glanced down at the floor as she continued with a shaky voice, "I did. I fed off of her."

Kenzi's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She could only croak as a substitute words. Her chest tightened as her lungs constricted. Is Bo slipping up? Is she killing again?

Bo quickly elaborated, "My little argument with Casimir kinda turned into a full on fight. He ended up stabbing me and left me to bleed out." She gulped as she mustered the strength to continue, "A woman came in the room to help me escape, but I knew I couldn't make it out. Ya know, dying and all. I—" Bo locked eyes with her friend and she whispered, "I sucked her dry, Kenzi. I wasn't healing fast enough and I just couldn't stop." Her eyes began to water as her bottom lip trembled.

The human grabbed Bo's shaking hands and murmured, "Bobo, you didn't mean to. You were going to die. Feeding to kill isn't how you roll. You didn't do it on purpose."

"Are you sure?"

Completely convinced, Kenzi nodded her head, "Absolutely. The Kill Bill Bo is a thing of the past. You're like a vegetarian succubus… if dead people are meat in this scenario."

"Well if you say it, it must be true," the succubus wiped away two tears.

"You are so very smart," Kenzi patted Bo on the cheek in jest. "That's why I stick around." As the brunette slugged the petite girl playfully in the shoulder, Kenzi said, "So no more pouting. One brooding wolf is enough in our little group."

"I second that." Suddenly remembering the supposedly sleeping occupant in the house, Bo noted, "Not a peep even with all that noise."

"That is one good ass nap."

"Let's hope it stays that way."

Kenzi sighed as she snapped back to the present. Nothing stuck out in her recollection. She never shook the feeling that the girl's death affected Bo, but it didn't seem possible that it could have driven her to madness. There must have been more to that story. There _had_ to be. If Bo wanted her to even contemplate forgiveness, she was going to tell the whole truth. She owed it to both her and Lauren. Lauren! Shit! Bo must have seen her already. She snatched up her phone to call her friend. They would get through this just as they had with Bo's abandonment- together.

* * *

With an audible groan, Bo trudged into the Morrigan's office. Before the curly haired woman looked up from her desk, the succubus announced facetiously, "Almighty Morrigan, how can I serve you?"

"If it isn't the famous no longer unaligned succubus. I'm hurt you didn't tell me you were back in town," the Morrigan feigned a small frown and crossed her legs as she brushed off a small speck of dust she spotted on her black frock.

"If you're expecting an apology, I'm not about to grovel or—"

"Oh please. Don't start with that independent woman shit," the sultry brunette leaned forward with elbows on the glass desk and reminded Bo. "You pledged yourself to the Dark. I don't care if it was on a whim or you just needed your feeds to disappear. What's done is done."

"Yeah," Bo suppressed her disappointment. Evony would never be privy to how much she regretted that decision. She'd allowed herself to be manipulated and seduced by her own lust for power and addictive sexual urges. "I've just been out of touch since I left so I'm out of practice with the whole 'boss' thing."`

"It's just like riding a bike. It'll come back to you." Evony added with a tone of pleasure, "We never lose sight of our own. Plus, racking up a body count is hardly the way to be discrete."

Bo shuddered at the woman's words. Her skin turned to ice, but her insides flared with flames of guilt. She'd hoped to leave all of that behind her. Unfortunately, thirteen years of killing tended to leave its mark and, in her own opinion, branded her as a murderer forever.

"Aww, Sweetie," the Morrigan flashed a sympathetic smile, "don't feel too bad. I heard you hold a new record. Your mother would be so proud."

Bo scowled at the woman. There was no 'record' but Bo had ripped through Europe as if she had something to prove. While her clan cleaned up her messes, they hadn't interfered nor asked anything of her. Now that she was back, her temporary freedom was stripped away. In truth, she considered it a simple slap on the wrist. The punishment could never fit the crime.

"Now here you are," the Dark Fae leader stood up and walked in Bo's direction. "I hope you're not too torn up to see that your friends' worlds kept turning without you. Your little pet is now a shape-shifter and your old honey found a new hand to swirl in her little doctor pot."

These revelations crashed into Bo's chest like a wrecking ball. Although she'd assumed both of these were true, hearing them first out of the mouth of the Morrigan made it worse. Of course, she didn't really deserve to be spoon fed after what she'd done.

"Not to mention the little—"

"Alright. I get it. Everyone has moved on blah blah blah," Bo tried to wave off her words.

Now only a few feet from the succubus, Evony said, "I'm a little surprised that your old lovey dovey sensibilities would let you come back and turn their perfect little worlds topsy turvy. Don't get me wrong, I love watching heartbreak and drama. I'm glad to see that your impulsiveness hasn't worn off," the Morrigan smiled.

Bo growled and crossed her arms, "Not that this is your business, but I thought about this a lot."

"Really?" Evony scoffed, "You couldn't have twirled it around in your little brain that long. You've only been clean for three months. And you were a naughty, naughty girl right up until you went cold turkey."

"How did you know that?"

"Did you miss the part where I said we keep track of our own? I could have sworn I just said that. Did your thirteen year rampage damage your hearing? All those screams and moans of pleasure and pleas for their lives?"

Refusing to trip over the taunting rocks in her path, Bo merely asked, "Why would someone report to you? Aren't you just regional government?" She wasn't quite sure how the political system worked. She'd never paid much attention to it before.

"You're like our little baby. Toronto gave birth to the most powerful and brutal succubus in over two millennia." The curly haired brunette continued, "You may have lost your unaligned novelty, but you've certainly made a name for yourself in other ways."

"Who was following me?" Bo insisted.

"Oh please, I had a full operation in place headed up by your own favorite valkyrie. She had her spies everywhere."

That bitch. While Bo didn't care what Tamsin thought of her, she hated to think that she might have passed along any details to Kenzi or Lauren or Trick. If they gave her a chance, she'd tell them the truth. She owed them that.

"Well I'll be sure to thank Tamsin for keeping an eye on me," Bo spat out sarcastically.

"You really should. She was fairly diligent about cleaning up after you." The Morrigan smirked, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she likes you."

With a smile, Bo returned, "Maybe she does."

"Don't flatter yourself, my dear. I doubt she'd even climb in bed with you."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Well, I'll give you the chance now," the Morrigan turned on her heel and ordered. "She's at the precinct. Bring her in. I want to speak with both of you."

With a raised eyebrow, Bo asked, "Why don't you just call her?"

"I thought you might want some private time after all these years," Evony chuckled as she leaned on her desk. "You might want to thank her for saving your darling doctor's life."

"What?" Bo's voice cracked. "What happened?"

"The details are probably best coming from her, but basically the human was wanted by international authorities. A few years after you skipped town, they finally found her here. Blah blah Tamsin killed the guys, faked Lauren's death in Mexico and now she's fine. It would be fascinating if I actually gave a shit."

"Why the hell would Tamsin do that?" Bo nearly shouted in disbelief.

"Because she's getting old and stupid. Maybe she has abandonment issues. Don't know; don't care."

"Right." That's all Bo said in return. Although completely befuddled, she wouldn't let her words or face betray her speculating mind. "I'll go get her then."

"Be quick about it," Evony snapped her fingers. Bo rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh and next time you run off, just give me a little notice, will you Sweetie?"

Shaking her head, the woman asked, "I can just leave whenever I want?"

"You're young. I'll let you have your fun for a hundred years or so. I'm just disappointed that you came back neutered."

"Don't be so sure," the succubus flashed a smile in an effort to save face. She couldn't afford to show her true feelings to her boss who had the power to make her life miserable.

"Good answer." As Bo strutted out of the room, the Morrigan added, "If your ex is stupid enough to allow it, be sure to say hello to your son for me." Bo clenched her jaw and swallowed the pain and guilt welling in her stomach. "I know he's not technically yours but if you two were together isn't the kid labeled both of yours? Is that how the lesbians do it these days?"

Not turning around, Bo answered stiffly, "Yup. That's how it works." Once she was out of sight, she sprinted to her Camaro and crumbled into a sobbing heap against the driver side door. "Oh god, Ethan," she blubbered through her tears. Her biggest regret in all of this was abandoning her son who wasn't even a year old at the time. The last few weeks before she ran, she treated him like a burden and an obstacle. How could she ever see a baby, _her_ baby, in such a way? Whether or not he was aware, she failed him. She failed his mother. She torched her entire family. If anything she did had lasting effects on Ethan, she wouldn't know how to forgive herself. She threw pleas into thin air, "Please let him be okay. Please let him be happy." After a few minutes, she pulled herself together and slid into the leather driver seat. Now to see Tamsin. Great.

* * *

Lauren glanced at the digital clock on the computer screen and blew a strand of hair off her forehead. As it fell back onto her cheek, she grunted and tucked the lock behind her ear. Her wife was in New York for three days of meetings. In four hours, her last meeting would conclude and after hearing Lauren's voicemail, she'd immediately call to calm the doctor and offer to catch the next flight home.

Unfortunately, the message of bad tidings didn't even include the news about Bo. Although she needed her wife's strength and comfort, her presence would only exacerbate the situation. The last thing she could handle was dealing with her wife's reaction to Bo's return. Although she didn't know how the woman would respond, she hoped that for her sake, she'd keep her cool and offer support rather than threaten violence.

Her beautiful wife had walked into her life nine years ago. Oddly enough, that important day started out as a Kenzi imposed group outing with Lauren, Tamsin and the eager organizer herself.

"If one of you told me that this was what "girls' night" meant, I would have stayed home and watched Kitchen Nightmares." Tamsin dragged behind Lauren and Kenzi as they walked from store to store in the mall. Lauren needed a couple new tops and Kenzi just loved to look. Somehow, Kenzi convinced Tamsin to come along.

"Kitchen Nightmares? Really Tam Tam?**"** Kenzi spun around and shuffled backwards so she could face the blonde valkyrie but still keep up with Lauren. "Do you like restaurants or cooking?"

"Pffttt," Tamsin buzzed her lips and scoffed, "Hell no, but the British guy screams and berates people. That's like seventy five percent of the show."

"That _is_ something she likes," Lauren commented over her shoulder.

Kenzi let out a high pitched squeal as she grinded to a halt in front of a store window. With her mouth watering, she declared, "I lurve shopping."

Tamsin snorted, "Correction: you like getting things."

Lauren stopped as Kenzi stood entranced and clarified, "And you often procure these things not through shopping but—"

"Stealing!" Tamsin concluded.

Lauren rolled her eyes before glaring at the blonde, "Was it necessary to interrupt me?"

Pursing her lips and tapping her chin in deep thought, the woman returned, "I'm thinking the correct answer to that is 'no'. So I'm going with that."

"Ladies!" The suddenly alert Kenzi interjected with spread arms keeping the two at bay. "Simmer down. I demand that this be a fun girls' night. We need a night off. So Tamsin, don't pull any asshat shit and Lauren, ignore the asshat shit."

Tamsin crossed her arms defiantly and stalked ahead without a word. Kenzi yelled ahead as she and Lauren started forward, "Don't be a baby! You like us and we know it."

"Eww. No, I don't."

Lauren hadn't brought up her rescue since it happened, but she felt compelled to broach the subject in a casual setting. While Tamsin detested any type of 'please' and 'thank you', she hated conversations in serious settings even more. The blonde cleared her throat and blurted, "You're really not fooling anyone. You killed international authorities, created and planted false evidence, faked a brutal crime scene in another country, and convinced the straggling cop that I was dead and sent him back with the evidence." The words stopped the valkyrie in her tracks, but didn't prompt her to turn around. Lauren walked up to her side and finally Tamsin faced her with a frown. When she said nothing, the doctor continued, "You may have been a pain in my side and slept with Bo, but you saved my life. And I want to th—"

"Oh Jesus, Doc," Tamsin held out her hands and begged, "That's about all the mush I can take. Save the 'thank you' for another day. Or," she smirked and dropped a hand on the woman's shoulder, "just forget about it."

Lauren smiled broadly, "Thank you."

In vain, Tamsin tried to wiggle off the smile creeping onto her face. As her facial muscles got the better of her, she turned away and groaned, "Why am I here again?"

Happy to answer the question, Lauren replied, "Because we are the only people who can tolerate your company."

"Easy there, Hotpants," Tamsin replied.

As the three women resumed their walk, Kenzi playfully suggested, "Maybe it's because you like us."

"Noooope," Tamsin let the word drag on for emphasis. "That's not it."

Nudging the stubborn woman on the arm, Kenzi insisted, "Oh. It is."

Tamsin glanced over and found herself smirking at the girl's exceedingly happy expression as she ordered, "Keep your goofy grin to yourself, Crazy." When Kenzi refused to wipe the overly amused look off of her face, the valkyrie addressed the other blonde, "So, speaking of Kitchen Nightmares…"

"Were we?"

Not deterred by the doctor's teasing tone, Tamsin offered, "Okay, speaking of cooking…"

"Were we?" Kenzi chimed in.

Ignoring Lauren and Kenzi's sarcastic comments, Tamsin continued, "Well since I saved your life and all, I think you should cook for me."

"Valkyrie got some balls!"

Lauren merely chuckled as the blonde Fae shrugged and said, "I mean it's the least you could do. Word on the street is your cooking skills are comparable to your doctoring skills."

"That rumor is correct," Lauren agreed with a hint of pride.

"Wow. I think I just saw your head swell like a balloon, Lauren." Kenzi teased, "Awesome job, Tammers. All we need is two bigheaded blondes."

"Hey!" Tamsin snapped.

Before the Tamsin could protest, Lauren slipped on a tiny puddle on the floor and fell backward onto her ass. "Oww!" She yelped. "That fucking hurt!"

Both Kenzi and Tamsin laughed at the curse word. The doctor reserved them for special occasions and busting ass in public was certainly a special occasion. "Well shit," Tamsin chuckled. "Don't kill yourself before you can cook for me."

"You know you can sue for that," a tall redhead strutted over and bent down in front of fallen woman.

Taken aback by the striking green eyes and long ringlets, Lauren could only stutter, "W-wh-what?"

The woman smiled broadly as she repeated, "You can totally sue for that." As she carefully gripped Lauren's arm and pressed a hand on the small of her back, she guided the woman to her feet. Her soft Southern accent coated her words as she continued with a wink, "I'm a lawyer. We'll sue their ass."

"Shit yeah we will," Tamsin's sultry tone made Lauren whip around to catch Tamsin undressing the stranger with her eyes and Kenzi promptly elbowing her in the ribs.

Glancing back at the woman, Lauren still couldn't manage a word. Despite her best efforts, her gaze trailed from her eyes to her lips to her plunging neckline. "My eyes are up here."

The abrupt words startled and humiliated the doctor. Unable to make eye contact, her eyes darted upward and around as she stammered, "I'm sorry. I—"

"Hey," the amused woman bobbed her head around trying to catch the other woman's gaze. "I'm kiddin'." When Lauren finally looked at her, she shrugged and conceded, "It's my fault for wearing this shirt. I can't really blame you."

"It's a _fantastic_ shirt," Tamsin commented.

The redhead smiled at the valkyrie, "Well thank you. I 'ppreciate it." Looking back at Lauren, she pressed, "Do _you_ like my shirt?"

The blonde cleared her throat and nodded, "Umm yes. It's a very nice… color."

"It's white," the woman flatly replied. If it weren't for her twinkling eyes and perpetual grin, Lauren might have bolted in embarrassment. "Now I know you like white shirts and can find the only wet spot in an entire mall. I must know more."

Forcing herself to speak rather than stare, Lauren replied, "And I know that you are a lawyer and from somewhere in the southern United States."

"Dammit. I always forget about my accent," the other woman grimaced.

"I think it's adorable."

The smile returned to the redhead's lips as she replied, "Well then, that's all that matters." Shaking her head as if jogging her memory, she said, "Oh, I should introduce myself." She thrust out her right hand and declared, "I'm Chloe Hopkins the Southern lawyer who wears low cut shirts."

Lauren gripped the offered hand and shook firmly as she replied, "Lauren Lewis the clumsy doctor who likes white shirts."

"Ooooh a doctor," Chloe sounded impressed. "I'm already getting new information." She glanced down at her thin silver wristwatch and groaned, "Shit. I have a video conference in ten minutes and I live fifteen minutes away." She bit the corner of her bottom lip as she said, "I hate to cut this 'getting to know you' short." Lauren gulped. She wasn't about to let this woman get away. Before she could speak, Chloe added, "I would give you my card, but I don't wanna to do business with you." Lauren caught a bit of nervous hesitation in the woman's words, "I'd like to take you on a date." Now it was Chloe's turn to gulp.

The redhead's confidence contrasted with her present uneasiness almost made Lauren giggle. Giggle? How old was she? Five years old? Chloe shifted uncomfortably until Lauren realized how much time had passed. With her right hand, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket while she grabbed the other woman's shaking right hand with her other. As she placed the phone in her palm, she asked, "Can I have your number?"

"Yes ma'am," the redhead responded sweetly. She glanced down at the iPhone and laughed, "You want me to guess your password? Or…"

"Oh!" Lauren snatched the device, typed in the four digit code and slapped it back into Chloe's hand.

With a laugh, she observed, "I'm not quite sure, do you really want my number? All those frantic motions have me wondering."

The blonde blushed but answered, "I know you're in a hurry- video conference."

"Oh, shit!" The woman's fingers tumbled across the screen before she handed the phone back to the blonde. "Call me whenever." She shook her head and corrected, "No, screw the coy thing. Call me soon. I'd like to see you before you slip and break your hip."

"I'm not elderly," the blonde chuckled.

"But clumsy."

"Yes. Today it appears that I am."

"Don't worry, your beauty more than makes up for it." As she walked away, she added, "Oh, and I like the color of _your_ shirt."

Tamsin and Kenzi stood by silently during the entire exchange. The valkyrie propped an elbow on the doctor's shoulder and commented, "Looks like someone likes you a lot." Lauren stood staring at Chloe until she turned a corner. Tamsin added, "If you don't want her, I'll take her."

"Hey!" Lauren and Kenzi snapped at the same time.

"I'm kidding!" Tamsin addressed the scowling doctor. She flicked a finger at Kenzi and queried, "What are you 'hey'ing about? Jealous or something?"

Kenzi swatted the teasing hand away and blurted, "You wish."

While Tamsin and Kenzi exchanged playful insults, Lauren slowly replayed the last few minutes in her head. As she did, a huge smile brightened her features. She wanted to get to know this woman. With a smirk, she pressed a few buttons on her phone and lifted it to her ear. Seconds later, she greeted, "Hi Chloe. Is this soon enough?"

Chloe's words of response from that first day were drowned out by Lauren's vibrating phone bouncing on the metal table in her lab. Assuming it was Dyson once again, she reluctantly reached for the device. After seeing "The Best Babysitter Eva" flash on the screen, she smiled and eagerly accepted the call.

"How's my favorite doctor?" a concerned voice immediately inquired.

With a long sigh, Lauren admitted, "Holding it together. I assume she's visited you as well."

"Yup," the word popped off the woman's lips.

"Did she tell you why she's back _now_?"

"You think I chatted with her long enough to find out and tell her about her icky boots? C'mon Lo. Time might move a tad bit differently for me, but I wasn't bursting at my corset seams to question the shit out of her." Lauren didn't respond as she planted a palm on the table and dropped her head. "Lauren?" Kenzi prompted gently.

"Yes, Kenzi?"

"What are you going to do about Ethan?"

She smiled the frustrated and weak smile that crossed her face only in times of uncontrollable distress as she replied, "I don't know."

"Did she ask you about him?"

"She tried," Lauren admitted. It angered her that the succubus had the balls to ask. She abandoned him as much as her. "I cut her off. I couldn't bear to hear her say his name."

"You've gotta decide with the quickness. You know that right?"

"Yes. I'm aware."

"This needs to be your decision not her accidentally bumping into him somewhere."

Delaying the inevitable decision for a few moments, she asked her friend, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna find out what really happened with that incubus. If she lies again, fuck her."

"If—if she tells the truth?"

Before answering, Kenzi calmly noted as an aside, "This isn't the same person who fucked up everything with us."

Slightly annoyed, Lauren pressed, "You're going to dismiss everything she did? That she left us?"

"Hell no, Doc. I gots to see if there's an explanation, a weak ass one, but that's something to work with."

"God," Lauren scratched her scalp as she dragged her fingers through her hair, "At times your logical way of thinking is quite exhausting."

"We should hear her out."

The blonde scoffed with raised eyebrows, "We?"

"You wanna know as much as I do. Plus, you deserve it."

"Fine," Lauren quickly complied. One more conversation couldn't make things any worse than they already were. "I've got to finish up some notes and head to the police station."

"Copshop. Gotcha. Text me when you leave and I'll meet you there."

"What are we doing, Kenzi?" the blonde replied in a defeated tone.

The other woman answered definitively, "Taking control and getting answers."

"Okay." Lauren hated when her friend was more level-headed than her, but she was right. "I'll see you in a bit."

Kenzi said her goodbyes and the doctor stared at the blinking cursor on the computer screen in front of her. Part of her wanted to take as long as possible to type her research conclusions, but she needed to get to the precinct for another reason besides talking with Kenzi. Her reluctant fingers clicked across the keyboard. With each key stroke, she grew closer and closer to making her decision about Bo. This wasn't just about her. It was about her family.

* * *

Without a word of explanation, Bo sauntered into the precinct to Tamsin's desk or what used to be Tamsin's desk. Before any officer objected, a wave of charm descended over the room. While some cops peacefully continued their work, a few gaped at the gorgeous brunette who plopped down into the valkyrie's desk chair. When a dazed and grinning older cop approached her and asked her if she needed anything, she sweetly asked if he could find the blonde detective. Without delay, he nodded slowly and walked off in search of Tamsin.

After a quick gander, Bo noted no significant changes to the office. It seemed this place was frozen in time. As detectives milled around the room, she caught sight of two boys and a girl handcuffed to chairs outside the interrogation room. All three slumped in their chairs and grumbled quietly to one another. Suddenly, all three sets of eyes flew in her direction as they sized her up. Not interested in interacting with troubled youths, she grabbed a pen and tapped it on the desk. She noticed bite marks on the cap of the pen and chuckled. Who knew that Tamsin chewed on pens?

People knew a little about Tamsin. Her "friends" knew of her brief sexual encounters with the succubus, but Bo highly doubted that the valkyrie ever confessed to playing a part in Bo's commitment to the Dark. Settling her chin in one hand propped on the desk, the brunette thought back to one night thirteen years ago.

In Tamsin's bed, Bo lay naked beneath a sheet as Tamsin snaked her tight slacks up her legs. A bit depressed by the disappearing skin, the brunette complained, "Do you really have to get dressed?"

As the valkyrie smirked and reached over the bed to retrieve her discarded bra, she replied, "Poor succubus. It's not like you'll never see this amazing body again."

The laughing succubus snagged one of the bra straps and tugged Tamsin in her direction, "You've got that right, Valkyrie."

As she yanked the red bra free, the blonde commented, "Not if Dyson finds a dead body before I do."

"There have only been two," Bo snapped defensively.

Buttoning up her white blouse, Tamsin noted, "Isn't the phrase: three strikes, you're out? Guess who's creepin' on three?"

"Well help me find a way to stop before Lauren finds out." Bo sat up and pulled the covers over her chest.

"Or," Tamsin sat on the bed and suggested, "just be normal and join a side- the Dark, of course."

"Yeah, I'm not one to be normal or follow rules."

Laughing, the blonde replied, "Do I strike you as a follower?"

Bo bit her bottom lip, dropped the sheet and crawled in Tamsin's direction as she purred, "Hmm. I'd use many words to describe you, but a follower isn't one of them."

Tamsin grabbed Bo's shirt from the corner of the bed and held it out to the leering Fae. "Neither is sex slave." With a frown, the brunette snatched the fabric and hopped off the bed to dress. Tamsin continued, "The Dark tend to leave people alone unless the almighty peeps need a favor or Fae start murdering each other. And you," she tossed the black bra to the searching succubus, "aren't interested in killing Fae."

"Nope. Just enjoying their company."

"Another thing, this human killing thing might get worse before it gets better," Tamsin noted flippantly.

Pulling the shirt down over her head, Bo grumbled, "Well that's just great."

"It's nothing you can't control. You'll sex up some Fae and humans and occasionally have an 'oops' moment."

"I think you give me too much credit," Bo slinked to Tamsin's side.

"Dude," Tamsin's face lit up with pride as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "You took out one of the Dark's Hall of Fame sex fiends a week ago. Not too shabby." When Bo rolled her eyes at the mention of Casimir, the blonde added, "You shouldn't have to worry about stopping yourself all the time. Seriously, the Morrigan or whoever will clean that shit up. It'll be like it never happened. Cops won't know and the Light won't know."

Bo straddled the valkyrie and mumbled in her ear, "Are you trying to seduce me to the dark side?"

Tamsin easily flipped Bo to the side and off of her lap and smirked as she rose to her feet, "The unaligned thing is overrated. You've got no clan or protection or sweet ass benefits."

For the first time actually considering the idea, the succubus asked, "What about Lauren and Kenzi?"

The blonde shrugged, "You claimed Kenzi so that's no biggie, but Lauren… hmm…"

"We're a packaged deal," Bo interjected without hesitation. No one would take her doctor away from her.

"A sixty year or so packaged deal," Tamsin clarified. "I think Evony might be willing to give you a pass."

"Why the hell would she do that?"

The valkyrie lowered her voice and noted seriously, "You really don't know how powerful you can be, do you?"

Nodding in understanding, the brunette replied, "Ah! So she just wants my power."

"Exactly. She definitely doesn't want the Light to have you."

"I think I'll pass."

"Suit yourself," Tamsin crossed her arms, "but you can't keep leaving bodies around."

Bo tilted her head thoughtfully, "So I should tell my succubus to chill the fuck out?"

The blonde scoffed, "No. Why restrain yourself? Geez, you're so young! Go fucking crazy. Do whatever the hell you want."

The succubus pulled Tamsin close with one finger wrapped around a belt loop and stared up at her as she whispered with a smirk, "You are a bad influence."

Smiling, the woman offered, "I'm just telling you who you are and that it's okay."

Remembering the sincere look on Tamsin's face, Bo slammed a fist on the desk at the precinct and answered inwardly, "It is so fucking not okay!" Tamsin might have thought she was merely helping Bo to accept her nature, but she actually encouraged the succubus to unleash demons that she couldn't control. Damn Valkyrie.

"Uh, ma'am?" The smiling officer appeared and said, "Detective Tamsin would like to speak to you in the hall."

"Great," Bo hopped to her feet, "Let's get this shit over with."

* * *

**I hate to admit it because I adore Doccubus, but I loved writing a very brief interaction between Lauren and an OC. Bo's been a dick and Lauren deserves an awesome woman. It's strange actively hating a character I've purposefully turned into a monster. Oh, the pains of an fanfic writer.**

**Also, someone kindly pointed out that my transitions from flashbacks to present are a little weak. I'm going to attempt to fix them in the earlier chapters and I hope I did a better job this time around.**


	4. The Beginning or the End

**I apologize for the ridiculously long delay, but I'm a rather slow writer especially when it comes to things of this nature. Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you've enjoyed this despite the rather depressing subject matter. It's been fun to explore this idea and experiment with Bo, Lauren, Kenzi and Tamsin. Although this is the intended ending, if you finish this chapter and still feel like it could go somewhere, let me know and I might be able to develop a plot in order to continue.**

* * *

As soon as Bo caught sight of Tamsin in the hallway, she groaned at the very familiar look on the woman's face. Just like this building, judging by her expression and demeanor, very little had changed when it came to the valkyrie's countenance.

When the brunette halted in front of her, a typical greeting slid from her smirking lips, "Hello, Succubus."

With no hint of pleasure in her eyes, Bo replied, "Hello to you too, Tam—"

The blonde's right fist slamming into her jaw truncated the sentence. "That's for Kenzi. And Lauren and Ethan I guess," Tamsin informed the woman rubbing her jaw.

"I guess I deserved that," Bo conceded while stretching her mouth open and closed to insure that nothing was broken.

"Still the genius I remember. Be thankful I didn't break that pretty face of yours."

"Are you going to punch me again if I tell you I've already talked to Kenzi and Lauren?"

Tamsin crossed her arms and chuckled, "Still worried about yourself I see. And yeah, Kenzi called me." She drummed her fingers on her arm and added, "She wasn't too thrilled with your sudden 'here the fuck I am' bullshit."

A little confused, Bo asked, "Since when does Kenzi call you?"

"Oh, Succubus. You do realize you've been gone for what? A few years? It may have been a one year vacation for you, but news flash: shit has changed."

"It's been thirteen," Bo corrected. The valkyrie made a valid point. Three months ago she awoke from what felt like a brief, but disturbing nightmare. Still trying to wrap her head around it, she had run back to the only place she knew.

"Oh yeah, thirteen. My bad. Anything under twenty five years barely registers." She flicked a finger in the brunette's direction with arms still folded. "Especially when it comes to you."

"Har freakin' har."

Tamsin's eyes narrowed, "You really fucked Kenzi up for a while so I feel obligated to hate you, but then I remember that you're not worth the effort."

The other woman rolled her eyes, "I really don't care what you think of me."

"Such a shitty attitude with no remorse to be found. Reminds me why we got along so well those last few weeks," the blonde snickered. "Still, the whole shituation caused quite a ruckus."

"Okay," Bo held up a hand with a puzzled tone, "you're talking to Kenzi and borrowing her words?"

The valkyrie cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head as the corner of her mouth slinked upward, "What can I say? Kenzi and I have—"

Bo's ringtone stopped Tamsin short. She pulled the phone out of her shirt and answered with a relieved tone as she shuffled down the hall, "Kenzi... hey..."

The blonde buzzed her lips as she exhaled. She figured the shifter couldn't stay away from Bo for very long. Like it or not, the succubitch was back along with every shitty thing she did before she left. She leaned back against the wall and tilted her head back as she recalled the day Bo disappeared. She growled under her breath when she remembered walking into the Dal and colliding with a very upset Kenzi who sprinted out the door.

"Whoa there, human. Where are you..." Tamsin's voice trailed off when Kenzi neither slowed down nor acknowledged her existence. "Alrighty then."

After stepping inside, Dyson and Bo's rather loud exchange at the bar dampened her mood. She just wanted to drink. Noticing the patrons gawking and taking no action, Tamsin strutted over to get Bo's attention. She yanked Dyson back before he could throw himself at the smug brunette and blurted, "Is there seriously about to be a succubus/wolf throwdown?"

Immediately transfixed by the blonde's white shirt clinging to her abdomen, Bo purred as she grabbed a handful of Tamsin's jacket, "Don't worry, Valkyrie. I'm far more interested in throwing you and doing other things."

Tamsin sighed in relief as she whispered in the hungry woman's ear, "I'm guessing I don't have much choice in the matter." She was always up for a good rumble with Bo and if she broke up a fight in the process, all the better.

As the brunette dragged her captive out of the bar, she growled with lust, "No, you really don't."

Within seconds, Bo pinned Tamsin against a brick wall in a nearby alley and shoved her hand down the woman's pants. Tamsin gasped in shock rather than pleasure, "Wow. You're not messing around are you?"

The succubus bypassed the woman's lips as her teeth tugged at the blonde's earlobe. She breathed, "No." They rarely kissed on the lips. Neither of them was interested in that type of intimacy.

When three fingers shoved into her painfully, Tamsin winced and managed to ask, "Why was Kenzi—Shit!" She gasped as her body jolted with Bo's aggressive thrusts, "so upset?"

Bo slid Tamsin's jacket and shirt off one shoulder and nibbled on her collarbone as she replied in a clearly annoyed tone, "Argument. Wants me to leave. Shut up."

"Dude!" The blonde ripped the hand from her pants and shoved Bo away as she barked, "I'm fine with assholes, but you're over the fucking edge."

Not discouraged, Bo grabbed Tamsin's wrists, pinned them above her head and asked seductively, "Are you calling me a bad, bad girl?"

Scratching her skin against the rough brick, Tamsin wrestled her hands from the succubus' grasp. She once again pushed Bo and snapped, "No! You're being a dick. I seriously don't even recognize you anymore."

"Aww," Bo rolled out her bottom lip in a pout, "Did I hurt your feelings too?" Her eyes locked on the woman's lips, "I'll kiss you if you want. I kinda want to now."

"Oh, please. Look. I like fucking you, but everything else is getting out of hand when it comes to—"

"You're the one who told me to accept who I am and go fucking crazy," Bo insisted.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she replied, "Well I thought you'd be able to control it and be discrete. And if that didn't work, I thought you'd drop the girlfriend and her baby. You can't have everything, Bo!"

"Fine!" Bo threw up her hands. She clearly wasn't going to listen to the blonde, "I'll just find someone else to fuck who won't lecture me when I'd like to rip their clothes off."

"Be my guest," Tamsin snapped. "I'm just trying to show a tiny bit of concern for Lauren and—"

"Lauren?" Bo stepped up in the woman's face and snarled, "You're worried about Lauren? Are you fucking my girlfriend?"

"Umm, no." The brunette's proximity didn't bother her as she yelled, "Get your head out of your ass. She fucking loves you. You know what? Just fuck off. It might be better for everyone."

A cop stomping past Tamsin in the hall interrupted her reverie. "Hell yeah it was," Tamsin mumbled under her breath as she waited for Bo to get off the phone. She remembered that the argument had dragged on for a few minutes longer but she shrugged the thoughts from her mind. She didn't care. The past was the past. If there was one thing Tamsin had mastered in over a thousand years of existence, it was moving on from your shit. Getting bogged down in mistakes, misfortunes and countless deaths was a waste of time and most importantly an anvil pinning her down from enjoying the present and the people in it. There were really only two classes of people in her life: people she cared about and "others".

Bo didn't screw her over; she just left. Good riddance. Her being back was going to be a pain in the ass. Since she'd only stopped killing a few months ago, Tamsin knew that she returned as the same old clueless and slightly entitled person she was before all hell broke loose. Her quick turnaround actually surprised and irritated her. Now she waltzed back in town seemingly thinking that "sorry" and excuses would be enough, but she was in for a rude awakening. When it came to seeing her son again or even remotely reconnecting with Kenzi and Lauren, Bo was truly at the mercy of the two people she'd sent into a tail spin after she left. Although Lauren suffered somewhat silently with Kenzi and her side, Bo's human impulsively sought out Massimo to sacrifice her humanity in an attempt to make herself stronger. She now had more perspective, but it didn't ease the pain at the time. And Dyson, dear god, what an embarrassment.

Over the past few years, she'd followed the havoc Bo wreaked. Truthfully, Tamsin admired the succubus for her balls. Bo was young and as long as she stayed away from her old family, everything was good. The valkyrie knew she'd calm down in a couple hundred years. Keeping close tabs on the succubus, Tamsin watched her jump around towns setting up her own personal harems and basking in the affections of Fae and savoring the chi of thralled humans as she drained them dry. Like mother like daughter. Tamsin shrugged at the thought. The blonde had no great love or respect for humans. It was a bit odd seeing as one of the women closest to her was human. Whatever. Double standards fit Tamsin's personality perfectly.

Loud verbal protests from inside the office jerked her from her thoughts. She forgot she was supposed to be babysitting those three little brats. She'd handcuffed them to the chairs for good measure. Repeat offenders pissed her off. Narrowing down the major screamer by his voice alone, she grabbed a cop walking by and ordered, "Would you please throw Super Angry Boy into the interrogation room and tell him that his lawyer mommy isn't going to help him?"

"Detective," the woman hesitated, "Didn't Detective Dyson ask you to—"

"Yeah, he asked me to babysit those idiots. I'm asking you to throw the kid into interrogation." Irritated with the officer's inaction, Tamsin yelled, "Throw the prick into the damn room! We're not going to torture him for Christ's sake." The blonde barely finished before the other officer sprinted away to do her bidding. Tamsin smiled to herself. Being a bitch definitely had its perks.

"Did you really have to scream?" Bo asked with a cocked eyebrow as she walked back toward the smug detective.

Rolling her eyes, Tamsin rebuffed, "Did you really have to come back?" Bo flinched but didn't answer. "That's what I thought." The two women just stared at one another. The succubus refused to be baited much to the blonde's dismay. She spoke up, "So. What did Kenzi say?"

Pleased by the civilized question, Bo responded, "She and Lauren want to talk to me. They're coming here."

"Wow. Really? Here? Didn't Dyson tell Lauren that—"

"Shit. Is Dyson here?" Bo whipped around as if she expected the wolf to jump out from around the corner.

The valkyrie chuckled at her discomfort but replied in the negative, "Nope. There was a murder or something."

"Aren't you his partner?"

"We're coworkers. I'm not too partner-y with him anymore. I've been actively looking for a replacement."

Bo laughed, "Did he finally get sick of you? You're really only tolerable in bed."

"Ha!" Tamsin smirked at the comment, "You would know. And no I got sick of his 'oh poor me' attitude. The pussy wolf ran away for five or something years."

The brunette's jaw dropped, "He did what? When?"

"You know _when_," Tamsin scoffed. With a look of disgust, she elaborated, "He ran off after you did, just like a little bitch who can't handle his shit. God!" She pounded a fist on the wall, clearly still angry with the man. "He left Kenzi and Lauren with no one."

"Oh god…" Yet another thing Bo had glazed over. Kenzi lost her protection when she left. Without Dyson, who else could stand between her and the Fae. It finally hit her and she whispered, "That's why Kenzi…"

"Became Fae?" Tamsin finished. "Sure, that's part of the reason."

Coaxing the valkyrie for more information, Bo pressed, "Part of the reason? What do you mean? Is she Dark?"

The other woman shook her head in disbelief and snickered, "It's hilarious that you think I'm going to answer that. That's Kenzi's business. You guys aren't friends anymore so you get jackshit."

Bo dropped her head and conceded, "Fine. Wait!" She glanced back up at the woman, "Why did you help Lauren? Evony mentioned something about authorities finding her."

"And again," Tamsin shrugged happily, "not your business."

Throwing up her hands, Bo blurted, "Am I seriously going to have to track down some random Dark Fae to spill the info? Really Tamsin?"

"Well," Tamsin considered the situation, "Lauren's definitely not going to tell you." Her face lit up, "There's a really good chance Kenzi and Lauren will tell you to fuck off which means I might not have to see you for a _long_ time."

"Don't sound too sad about it."

"So, for preemptive old times' sake, I'll tell you. Also to make you feel like shit for leaving."

Bo's muscles in her jaw tightened as she eyes projected a lack of appreciation for Tamsin's assumed humor. Her hands balled into fists as she folded her arms and tucked her fists tightly into the crooks of her arms. She spat, "Really?"

"Oh please," Tamsin waved off the brunette's disdain and explained, "I'm just saying what Kenzi and Lauren might not do a good job of saying."

Although she couldn't deny the legitimacy of the harsh words, Tamsin's not the one she wanted to hear them from. "Just tell me the story," she sighed. "I'm sure they can handle themselves. I feel sufficiently shitty."

"No, I really don't think you do. I mean," the blonde replied in frustration. "You're delusional enough to think you can fix this or make yourself feel better. Shoulda stayed gone."

"Story or no story?" Bo hated this fucking woman. She was a total dick, but Tamsin's very long existence afforded her a foresight that she couldn't hold a candle to. Still, Tamsin wasn't on her list of people to apologize to.

Thinking her rudeness was sufficient, the valkyrie plunged into the tale of Lauren's almost demise, "Some number of years after you left, I dunno, four maybe, Lauren noticed a couple of guys following her around. Fortunately, they tried to arrest her at the Dal and Trick was able to hide her somewhere in that creepy downstairs hovel. When she told the Light, they said they couldn't interfere in human matters."

"What?! Fuck them!"

"That's what I said. Bunch of pansy asses. Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to take care of it myself. I hadn't interfered in an international affair for hundreds of years. So, I helped her," she said nonchalantly.

"You thought it'd be fun?" Bo cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I was bored." the woman shrugged in reply as if any normal person would have done the same for kicks. "I don't care about humans, just messing with authority."

"I'll buy that," Bo concluded.

"Anyway," Tamsin continued, "I knew I had to get rid of these guys and kill Lauren or else they'd just send more people."

"Kill her?"

"Fake it, genius," the blonde rolled her eyes. "So I dragged Lauren down to Mexico with them on our tail. I cornered all of them in an old building and killed all but one. The rest was easy. Posed some lovely shots of a 'dead' Lauren, found a girl to take her place and convinced the undead Interpol dude that he killed her. I burned the place down and Lauren and I left. Easy as fallin' off a log."

"Wait. When you said you found a girl to 'take her place', do you mean-"

"Yeah. I found some chick with the same body type and made sure that even after the fire they couldn't do any kind of facial reconstruction," Tamsin looked down and inspected her fingernails as she concluded casually.

"I'm not even going to ask," Bo shook off a hint of revulsion. "Did Lauren know about your little substitute body?"

"Not for a while. I wasn't exactly eager to pass along gory info. She cares about humans and shit like that."

"Novel idea," Bo commented under her breath.

"You're one to talk," Tamsin glared as she spat, "How many people have you killed? You gonna share that information with Kenzi and Lauren?"

No longer willing to listen to the valkyrie's abuse, Bo replied as she threw a thumb in the direction of the large office, "I think I'm going to wait in there."

"Can't take the heat?"

"I don't think I should have to take it from you," Bo snapped.

With a snide smile, Tamsin leaned forward and said, "You're not fooling me, you're just here for you. If you really want another shot with them, you better tap into all the pathetic guilt and dig up a lot of humility and selflessness."

"So now you care?"

"Just tell them the truth," the blonde offered. She and Bo stalked into the room and silently sat at the desks: Tamsin in her own and Bo in Dyson's. The detective was worried about her friends. She'd lived long enough to know that unresolved feelings of abandonment resurface when faced with the guilty party. Unlike her, Kenzi and Lauren lacked the emotional stability to repress old sentiments on command. The impending conversation would prove interesting especially considering the boy locked in interrogation.

* * *

Everything seemed to move slowly as Lauren pulled into the parking lot at the precinct. She slinked her car into a parking space and as she held the brake firmly, she felt every click of the gears changing as she shifted from drive to neutral to reverse and finally into park. As her fingers turned the key and pulled it from the ignition, a panic swept over her. If she was going to have a debilitating meltdown, it was best to get it out of the way now. Before she could bang her head on the steering wheel, a loud knock on the window startled her and her hand flew to her chest as she muttered, "Holy shi…" She whipped to her left and was greeted by a wide smile attached to her petite friend. "Kenzi!" She flung open the door and unlatched her seatbelt. "You scared me."

"My bad," the woman halfheartedly apologized with the amused expression still on her face. She grabbed the blonde by the arm and said, "If we don't get in there now even I might chicken out."

"Grrr," Lauren grunted with absolutely no idea how the noise slipped out.

"Has the doctor really been reduced to animal noises?" Kenzi planted her feet firmly on the pavement and bent her entire body backward to yank Lauren from the Volvo. As she pulled, she coaxed, "Let's just get it over with. Rip off the band-aid or something."

Finally relenting to the woman's physical and verbal persuasion, the blonde hopped out of the car. Shaking her arm free, she asked, "Why do you seem excited about this?"

"Moi?" Kenzi pressed both hands to her chest and disagreed. "I'm not excited. I've just got way better shit to do than wonder about Bo. She'll talk. We'll listen. Then we'll make a decision."

"What exactly do we have to choose from?"

The shifter smiled as she grabbed Lauren's hand and squeezed it, "I think it's different for both of us." Lauren merely nodded in response. Unlike Kenzi, her decision was not as straightforward. She had to decide if she wanted Bo back in her life, Ethan's life, both of their lives, or nothing at all. With a reassuring nudge, Kenzi whispered, "C'mon doc. We've got a succubus to wrangle."

* * *

Bo felt a light tap on her shoulder and a stern voice, "Bo, let's talk." The brunette stood up and tuned to see Kenzi with Lauren standing a few feet behind. As soon as she locked eyes with Lauren, the blonde lowered her head.

"Of course," Bo answered softly.

Looking over Bo's shoulder, Kenzi asked Tamsin, "Is there somewhere we can go?"

"Sure," Tamsin roughly brushed past the succubus and squeezed Kenzi's arm as she guided them to an occupied office. She threw open the door and demanded, "Out, bitches. I need this room for… something."

As the officers voiced their protest, Bo prompted in a gentle voice, "We only need a few minutes." Her words hypnotized the men as they smiled and apologized for being in Bo's way.

"Forgot you didn't have to touch people anymore," Kenzi commented.

"Okay," Tamsin clapped her hands and declared, "I'm gonna leave you three to your girl talk." She nodded to both Lauren and Kenzi and added, "I'll be outside if you need anything." Bo noticed the comfortable smiles exchanged. My how things have changed. The blonde trudged toward Bo and whispered in her ear, "I will fuck you up if you hurt them." _And_ some things haven't changed.

After the door quietly closed, the divide between Bo and the two other women turned the room into a battlefield. Both sides were on the defensive although Bo's demeanor was subdued and lacked Lauren and Kenzi's presentation of confidence. Bo could barely find the footing in her mind with the overwhelming silence pelting her senses. The tips of her fingers seemed numb by the frozen atmosphere. Rolling her tongue around in her mouth, she tasted a rank residue brought on by a lack of eating and drinking. The silence in the room heightened into a deafening high pitched ring. In an attempt to focus on a single thing, Bo's eyes dropped as she began counting the specks on the floor beneath her feet. Several heartbeats later, Bo glanced up and asked hesitantly, "Are you guys okay with all of this?"

Kenzi's jaw dropped, "Really? That's your opening line?"

Bracing herself for whatever the next few minutes had in store, Bo replied, "I'm here for you so yeah that's where I want to start."

"Well then," Kenzi shrugged, "You want 'what the hell' or 'what the fuck'?"

"Are you really here for us?" Lauren chimed in. If not carefully moderated, her friend would completely derail the conversation with snarky remarks rather than hard hitting questions.

"Tamsin seems to think _no_," the succubus slowly backed into a nearby desk and propped her arms behind her.

Amused, Kenzi replied, "One point for Captain Obvious." She held up a finger as she sarcastically clarified for Bo, "Not you. Tamsin."

Although Bo's expectations had been muddled, Kenzi's tone revealed a hostility that couldn't be reasoned with. At this point, only raw emotion, brutal honesty and complete vulnerability might crack the door for a _chance _of a _hope_ of a vague reconciliation. Throwing any logical thought to the wind, the brunette replied, "I guess yes and no. Yes, because I've come home to my life."

Lauren tensed up at the thought and replied, "You cannot have your life back. That life included us and you certainly do not belong in ours."

Bo nodded, "I… I understand. I just had to come back."

"To clear your conscience?" Kenzi interjected. Every moment that passed intensified her sensitivity toward her former friend. As a Fae, her interpretation of time didn't follow the pattern of days, weeks, months and years. In fact, the thirteen year gap seemed to fold in half and bring the day of Bo's departure alarmingly close to the present. To ward off her jarringly warped sense of time, she actively steeled her emotions to prevent a slip into old habits.

"I don't know…" Bo gulped and steadied herself against the desk. No matter how noncommittal or uncomfortable her answers, she refused to misrepresent herself.

"Then why are you here?" Lauren asked bluntly.

Bo sighed, "I feel like any answer is wrong. I can't make anything better by just opening my mouth.

"Bo. You've got your chance and this is it." Kenzi drew the line with her words. All those years ago, boundaries had been crossed and lenience abused, but not this time.

"I don't know what to do," Bo's words faded into nothing.

"Is this a waste of our time?" Lauren's voice was littered with annoyance and the stress of the situation. "I have other things to do."

"It's like a nightmare!" Bo strained with tears threatening to reveal her terror and despair. "I... I... I woke up from this daze months ago realizing everything that I've done. I barely sleep and I don't deserve to. I've hurt so many fucking people and..." She couldn't control the tears anymore. For better or worse, these two women were witnessing the breakdown of a woman who'd stolen and broken so many lives that she couldn't sort out how to feel. She forced herself to look at Kenzi and Lauren as she admitted painfully, "I've killed so many people. I can remember their faces. I can remember what I did and said to you. I wish I could say I didn't mean it, but I did... I did. My heart was so cold. I felt this gaping hole that causing pain helped to fill. Everything I knew about myself was turned upside down."

Bo pawed her way along the desk and collapsed into a chair a few feet away. With all the horrible admissions pouring from her soul, she had no strength left to stand. She sniffed as the mucous muffled her words, "I just... It seems like it was only a little while ago that I had both of you. We were happy with our lives."

Both Kenzi and Lauren flinched. They had no desire to journey back to those times as they foolishly had throughout the day. For all they knew, Bo would exploit any visible weakness. Plus, they couldn't give her any encouragement for she deserved none.

"I cannot ever, ever be punished enough for what I've done," her eyes locked on Lauren's. "I broke our family. It's all that I wanted until I just didn't anymore."

Recognizing all too well that look in Bo's eyes, Lauren turned away. Her heart screamed that it wasn't fair for her former girlfriend to project those feelings, but if she wanted the truth, she had to endure.

"I wanted control," Bo straightened up and explained to the best of her ability. "I needed control. Fucking us up, thralling, feeding, killing... All of these things I controlled. I can't even," she took a deep breath as she allowed herself to tap into those old desires for a moment. "I didn't care about anything. It was all these dark instincts. This passion for taking what I wanted no matter what the cost. I needed pleasure and chi. It was mine to take. And I took and took until there was nothing left." Bo winced as she suppressed urges she constantly fought to keep in check. As her heartbeat quickened with desire, she clutched the metal arm of the chair and panted.

Putting herself between Lauren and the struggling succubus, Kenzi asked, "Are you going to hurt us?"

With each deep breath, Bo diffused the passions which had held her hostage in her own body for years. As she calmed herself, she raised her head and responded confidently, "I won't hurt anyone again."

"If there's even a chance, you need to leave," Lauren instructed. She meant it both as a warning and a test. She needed to know if Bo would endanger them and if she was still dangerous.

The succubus shook her head as she wiped tears from her cheeks, "No. I'm fine. You're safe."

Somewhat uneasy with the woman's quick recovery, Kenzi challenged, "After a few months of not doing all the… murder things you're just fine?"

Lauren pulled Kenzi back to her side and before Bo answered, she asked a question she might regret, "What happened to you when you left?"

Puzzled by her ignorance, Bo almost asked if Tamsin had told them anything. She assumed the valkyrie had shared a little out of abhorrence for her. Judging by the hesitantly eager look on the women's faces, they knew nothing of Tamsin's surveillance and therefore no details of her madness. Rather than exploit the opportunity to call Tamsin's honesty into question, she began, "I became this thing that fed off of pleasure and fear. I started out in Spain then Italy and Greece and… as many countries as I could. I wanted to experience the different cultures."

Kenzi clarified, "And by experience you mean…"

"Taste chi," Bo rubbed her suddenly sweaty hands on her pants. It was as effective this time as it had been outside of Lauren's apartment. She could wipe the sweat from her palms, but the anxiety still raged within her. She continued, "I took their lives. I made people mine with my blood and then I just killed them."

Lauren couldn't gauge Bo's feelings toward her words. She needed to see anguish. Any reminder of the callous Bo would result in immediate dismissal. She wouldn't go through that again. She asked, "How could you?"

Bo's heart cracked at the blonde's pleading tone. With eyes swimming with rabid regret, she replied, "I don't know. It felt like an instinct."

Wondering how Bo bounced back so quickly from such brutality, Kenzi asked, "So you found succubus Jesus and _bam_ you're a Fae vegan? No more dead bodies?"

"It wasn't quite like that."

"Then tell us what happened," Lauren insisted.

The brunette rose to her feet and settled into a comfortable pace as she spoke, "I went home with this woman in Bristol and I…" She felt no need to fill in the blank. "I was leaving and this little girl stopped me at the front door looking for her mom."

"Who you just chi sucked to death," Kenzi noted.

"Were you aware that she was a mother when you…" Lauren's voice trailed off in discomfort.

Offering only slight consolation considering the circumstance, Bo shook her head, "No. I didn't. When I saw her, I felt this weird draw. I guess I thought I was high off chi as I bent down and asked her name. She pointed at my eyes and said, 'I'm Charlotte and you're the woman with pretty blue eyes.'" Bo stopped herself from walking toward the doctor as she reminisced, "If you had a girl, we were going to call her Charlotte. You picked that name, remember?"

At the mention of the name, Lauren felt a flush of heat and sorrow. She hadn't expected something so personal to be a pivotal moment for Bo. Before her emotions trampled her reason, she halted the woman, "Bo. Don't go there."

Bo regained her composure and continued, "She touched me on the cheek and I felt this horrible stabbing pain. I couldn't breathe and I started hearing screams and seeing flashes of faces. Next thing I knew, I was holding the dead woman in my arms and giving her chi back."

As Bo took a breath, Kenzi encouraged her to continue, "Then what?"

"I bolted. I ran and ran. I couldn't see where I was going because of all the faces. These faces and screams were so real. I saw you two scared and angry. Somehow I ended up at my house. I fell on the floor and cried. I could hear you. You were worried about me. Then I heard things I said. It was like I saw those last months for the first time. I hurt you and hurt you and hurt you," Bo pounded her right fist into her left palm each time _hurt_ left her lips. She described the haunting experience, "I wanted to smack that bitch I knew was me for doing those hateful things. After awhile, I passed out. All my energy was just gone."

"Didn't you get hungry," Kenzi asked.

"I sent everyone away and asked for someone who could help. A very kind elven healer managed to get me stable enough to travel on my own, so I came home. I had to see you and apologize."

Although somewhat moved by Bo's words, Lauren dismissed the woman's emotional experience to attack her with a truth even more excruciating in light of the new information. She blurted, "One little girl caused this dramatic change?"

"I guess so."

Furious, the blonde took a step forward and said through clenched teeth, "You mean that my begging and pleading and Ethan crying didn't upset you? Thirteen years later you see a child and—that's it?" Her rhetorical question ended in a scream.

Maintaining her distance, Bo gently admitted, "I let you down and hurt you both. This nature just took over and—"

"Stop!" Lauren demanded. She recalled Bo's past sins and held the woman accountable with a grave voice, "I was trying to raise a child and protect him from his own mother."

So as not to add to Lauren's discomfort, Bo swallowed and blinked away a tear as her voice cracked, "I know."

"Don't you dare claim to know!" While Lauren generally maintained her composure when angry, her fierce love for her son fueled her screams, "I was afraid to leave him with you! You do not know what it was like. I should have thrown you out for his sake long before you left."

Hoping to calm the blonde, Bo nodded, "You're right. I don't know. I should have never put you in that situation."

With decreased volume but just as much fervor, Lauren reminded her, "We made the decision for me to get pregnant together. He was your child as much as mine. I had to raise him without another parent for years." She sniffed at the last word.

"I was dangerous," Bo replied.

"That is _not_ an excuse for what you have done," Lauren snapped.

Taking a step forward so as to stomp out the very notion, Bo assured her, "No, no. I just meant that I've been dangerous ever since…"

"Since what?" the doctor prompted.

"The incubus," Kenzi quickly concluded. Bo didn't even have to speak. Her widening eyes and quivering lips answered in the affirmative. "You lied didn't you?"

"Yes," Bo said simply. Both she and Lauren retreated to their original positions in the room. Another explanation rather than confrontation was a hand.

Kenzi threw up her hands and asked, "Why? Why lie to me? If something happened, we could have done something."

"He did something to me. It changed me."

"Tell us," Lauren asked for Bo's no doubt elaborate excuse. She hoped Bo didn't try to shift blame unnecessarily.

Not knowing any fancy way of explaining, the brunette stated, "He gave me his chi. He gave me his lust and hate. He said we were the same and he wanted me to experience life."

The shifter scoffed, "So you took him up on his 'experience life' offer with arms wide fucking open?"

"No," Bo began with what they already knew. "He really did stab me and I was dying. He trapped me because the only way to live was his chi. I didn't know what would happen so I took some when he offered. I've never tasted anything so disgusting. It burned my chest but cooled and sharpened my senses. Then I lost control and completely drained him and that girl on my way out. I felt something inside of me that didn't belong. I burned down the house to hide that they were feeds."

"Anti-climactic," Kenzi declared. Bo's frumpiness when it came to words didn't always stir the emotions as she intended.

Plunging forward, the succubus grasped for every detail to draw upon for a sufficient description, "I can't explain it. I just changed. After that, I stopped caring slowly but surely. Any time I tried to hold onto my love it seemed to just fuel a hate. The man that helped me gain control of my instincts while I was in England said that Casimir gave me his true nature. Most people try to hold onto themselves during a feed, but he just gave himself up and I reaped the benefits. I destroyed everything I touched as he did. I loved you two so much… and Ethan. I always acted worse with you two. Apparently, something got flipped and I shit on everyone I cared about."

Although considering the influence of the incubus, Lauren insisted, "It is only partially relevant that Casimir forced himself upon you."

Bo firmly agreed, "I know that. I had choices and I made the wrong ones over and over again." Sensing some sort of barrier dropping, she inched forward as she admitted, "I did it all and I'm so sorry."

Bo meant it. Perhaps her motives were glazed with selfishness, but she took full responsibility. A bit overwhelmed, Lauren said, "I don't know what to do with all of this."

Watching Lauren's resolve wane and yield to vulnerability, Kenzi stressed the human issue, "It's been too long, Bo."

Bo froze and nodded solemnly, "I know."

Lauren was flailing and threw out, "What do you want from us? What are you expecting?"

After hearing herself offer insight into her heinous past life and witnessing Kenzi and Lauren's feelings flash before her eyes, Bo changed her mind about her intentions. She had done so many things wrong and it was time to do something right. Reluctantly, she replied, "Nothing. I thought maybe forgiveness, but after today… I think I've done enough damage. I just wanted you to know what happened and that I'm sorry."

"We can't unhear or unsee what you did," Kenzi offered unnecessary justification for their stinginess with clemency.

"What are you thinking?" Lauren asked seeking insight into the woman's mind.

Uncensored, Bo blatantly admitted her off topic whimsical feeling, "It seems like I was here a few months ago."

"Nope. Wrong." Kenzi scoffed, "We were happy a few months ago _without_ you."

"Conscience clear?" Lauren boldly snipped as she propped up the walls she so carefully constructed before beginning this conversation.

"Lauren," the woman's name flowed from her lips like a song. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you and Ethan. You're happy now and that has to be enough for me. I still—" she coughed back the words. No matter how blood stained, she still cradled her love for Lauren within her heart.

"Bo. Don't…" Lauren heard the words although they remained unspoken. She didn't love Bo, but a bond severed so suddenly and brutally didn't heal as it should.

The brunette forced a gentle smile and said, "Thank you for hearing me out. I'll let the Morrigan know that I'm going to leave town."

"What?" Kenzi exclaimed. "You're fucking leaving again?!" How dare she tromp back into their lives only to leave again?

"I can't be here," Bo hated hearing the pain in Kenzi's voice, but she didn't think she was any good to anyone here.

The shifter stomped into Bo's face and rammed a finger against her chest and challenged, "Are you too much of a pussy to deal with this shit?"

Bo felt the woman's finger tremble. She folded her fingers around her arm and lowered it as she explained, "Kenzi. I don't think Ethan should know. I can make one good decision and not try and throw myself into his life."

Kenzi grabbed Bo by the shoulders and yelled, "No! Earn our fucking forgiveness! Do something!"

Lauren wrapped her arms around Kenzi's waist and pulled her back. She spun the frazzled woman around and whispered, "Kenzi…"

"No!" Kenzi ripped herself from Lauren's grasp and reminded the doctor, "You know that Ethan—"

"Kenzi. Stop!" Lauren demanded. Bo couldn't know about Ethan. Glancing at the brunette, she willed herself to not verbalize her thoughts. Bo wanted to go in order to spare Ethan, but in truth, Bo couldn't go _because_ of Ethan. Regardless, she wasn't going to beg her to stay.

The door opened, "Hey babe." Chloe strolled into the room toward her wife.

Bo felt as if a stone lodged itself in the back of her throat. She knew of this woman's existence but seeing her walk in and take Lauren's hand bred something akin to hate but also similar to sadness. As the seconds ticked by, the succubus repeated to herself that she had no right to be angry or jealous or really feel much of anything. The day she decided to lie to Kenzi and forego the chance to resist Casimir's hold, she forfeited all rights to the doctor and Ethan. Although her heart crumbled, she plastered a vaguely happy expression across her features.

Kenzi did a shit job of concealing the extremely awkward timing of Chloe's arrival. Bo's eyes echoed the pain of loss and Lauren's poorly controlled nervousness hinted at current emotional situation. In an attempt to delay Bo's introduction, Kenzi smiled at her friend's wife and said, "I thought you were lawyering it up in New York until tomorrow."

The redhead planted a kiss on Lauren's lips and explained, "I got Lauren's voicemail. Fortunately one of the big wigs A: has a private airplane and B: totally likes me." Finally acknowledging the brunette several feet away, she asked, "So what's going on in here?"

Lauren squeezed Chloe's hand tightly to comfort herself. At least for today, she hoped to avoid this exact scenario. To her surprise, Bo neither spoke nor displayed any sort of disrespect or displeasure. Aside from her eyes that Lauren hadn't forgotten how to read, Bo appeared calm and emotionless. With any luck, Chloe would maintain her composure as well.

When no one answered her query, Chloe commented, "Alrighty then. Lauren, I talked to Tamsin and she's getting—"

"Chloe," Lauren interrupted, "This is Bo."

Every bit of air fled from the room. Bo and Kenzi braced for a fight. Lauren just waited. She'd waited for this moment for years.

The redhead turned slowly and rather dramatically to face Bo. Her thoughts and feelings were garbled. She couldn't sort through all the things she'd been told of this woman and shove the description into the body before her. "You're Bo?" The name tasted horrible in her mouth. Now it all came together. She slid her hands behind her back and laced her fingers together to hinder any physical aggression her instincts commanded. Although not a violent human, she had no qualms beating the crap out of a succubus who had ripped out Lauren's heart and thrown it to the wolves. As her nostrils flared, she asked, "_The_ Bo?"

Feeling the heat radiating from Chloe's body, Bo stood her ground and responded simply, "Yes. I'm Bo." A boy stepped into the doorway and she recognized him as one of the kids handcuffed to a chair outside the interrogation room. Lauren gasped and glanced between the boy and Bo. By the confused, yet yearning look in his eyes, Bo realized that she was merely feet away from the child she'd abandoned long ago. Right now, she understood how long she'd been gone. Ethan was living proof of how much time had passed.

As he took a step toward Bo, Lauren rushed toward him and ordered frantically, "Ethan. No. Wait outside." This was a nightmare. The worst part was that both Bo and Ethan longed for this moment. For the past year, Ethan had been acting out. He'd always been angry with this mythical Bo he heard of, but somehow he learned of the brunette's whereabouts and foolishly thought he might get her attention with his own bad behavior. She glanced back at Bo to see an expression she didn't expect- shame. Instead of an overwhelming relief and joy, her ex-girlfriend bombarded herself with rocks of guilt and regret. The look must be killing her son. She knew he detested how much he wanted Bo's attention and love.

As the protective mother attempted to shuffle him out of the room, he twisted himself from her grasp and addressed the stranger, "You're Bo?"

Bo gasped as he said her name. Her lungs failed to function and her muscles lost all control. With tears building up in her eyes, she nodded and replied, "Hi Ethan. I'm sorry I missed your life."

Wanting to punch and hug her at the same time, the blonde boy with Lauren's brown eyes asked anxiously, "Are you back?"

All four women's eyes bounced from one face to the other. Bo knew she had no right to answer and Lauren didn't know how to answer. With abated breath, five individuals stood in silence until a single voice replied confidently, "Yes, Ethan. She's back."

* * *

******Thank you so much for reading and being so supportive. I'm thrilled with this little fic's reception and tinkering with a (very) Dark Bo's return has been challenging and exciting.**

**********As I mentioned, this was the original ending which I hope you enjoyed! After giving it some _more_ thought, I'm ending it here. I did post a Ch. 5, but I've pulled it. I feel like it detracts from the simple message I started with. Sorry, guys! I'm sure some of you are relieved. It was going to pair Lauren with an OC, which is the only logical thing to do, but also disappointing.**

******I'd prefer ********each reader make their own decision about Lauren and Kenzi's ability to forgive. It was meant to be more of an experimentation with Dark Bo, what she lost and its effects on Lauren and Kenzi. You can also make the decision as to who said the last line in the chapter... unless you read Chapter 5.**


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